E-ssentials

Customer Service

Online business poses unique challenges and opportunities for customer service. Online exporters must have an effective customer service program to build and maintain a customer base, and should consider hours of operation, local hires, language differences, etc. Customer service should be integral to website design and overall business strategy.

Resolving Complaints

Disputes between buyers and sellers are inevitable, whether the transaction occurred on or offline. How customer complaints are resolved is important to building trust and confidence with an online exporter's clientele. For most companies involved in online cross-border e-commerce, the most practical way of dealing with disputes is alternative dispute resolution (ADR, also known as ODR or online dispute resolution). ADR mechanisms can be more flexible, creative, timely, and cost efficient than courts in finding solutions that satisfy both parties. There are a number of commercial websites and private service providers that maintain information on international ADR. U.S. Commercial Service officers in your target market can help you identify a country's ADR use. See also, research on the Top Internet Markets FAQ at left. Companies may also choose to participate in a trustmark program (also known as a consumer confidence seal program) that includes ADR services. For example, the Global Trustmark Alliance (GTA ) is a new membership organization created to encourage cross border e-commerce by fostering consumer trust, encouraging good online business practices, and discouraging the development of burdensome and disparate governmental regulation.

Be Responsible

In the online world, success and reliability are equal partners. Before using the Internet to export, companies should review their online practices and ensure that they are seamless with their offline business practices, that they are worthy of their customers' confidence, and that they conform to the relevant laws of the target market. Companies should pay particular attention to taxation, privacy, security, unsolicited commercial emails (UCE), advertising content and jurisdiction. Of course, companies should always deal in good faith.

Taxation

An online merchant selling to foreign customers should pay careful attention to the tax implications of those sales. In general, once a company crosses a certain threshold of activity in a foreign country, the company becomes subject to income tax in that foreign country.

Privacy

U.S. organizations that collect personally identifiable information online should display their privacy policies prominently, and offer data subjects (i.e. customers, employees, other business contacts) choices about how their personal information is used. Customers, for example, should have the opportunity to refuse having their personal information shared with others or used for promotional purposes.

Many countries have privacy laws, and organizations should take care to comply or face prosecution. For example, the European Union prohibits the transfer of personal data to non-European Union nations that do not meet the European "adequacy" standard for privacy protection. The U.S. Department of Commerce, in consultation with the European Commission and the private sector, developed a "safe harbor" framework that provides U.S. organizations with a streamlined means to comply with the European Union requirements. Companies may self-certify to the safe harbor through the safe harbor website.

Security

Compared to other forms of consumer purchasing, the Internet is safe, as long as the online merchant takes prudent business precautions.

Electronic Signatures

In legal terms, an online sale is an enforceable contract, a valid and binding agreement. However, in some overseas markets, a contract is only enforceable if it is signed "in writing." Such jurisdictions do not recognize electronic signatures and, in the event of a dispute, would not enforce an agreement made via email or through a website. While many countries have modified their laws to recognize electronic signatures, online exporters should check to be sure their target market accepts electronic signatures and, if so, if those countries impose restrictions on which signatures/technology are legally valid. More information on electronic signatures can be found at the Department of Commerce Office of Information Technology and Electronic website, or via the U.S. Commercial Service Officer in your target market.

Pricing, Tariffs, Shipping & Licensing

The methods to determine appropriate pricing, tariff rate and ideal method of shipping for your product(s) are no different for e-commerce transactions than they are for other transactions. For convenience, the following subjects link to the appropriate subjects on Export.gov.

Pricing Your Product

The process of shipping and pricing goods purchased over the Internet is identical to those purchased via other means except for products delivered digitally over the Internet (i.e., music, videos, games, software, etc.), which are downloaded from a web site.

Determining Tariff Rates

Find import tariff rates by country for your product(s). Account for tariff rates when pricing your product.

Shipping Your Product

Research information on shipping, logistics, required documentation and service providers that can help facilitate getting your products to port and through foreign customs.

Note that a Shippers Export Declaration is not required for "intangible exports of software and technology, such as downloaded software and technical data (i.e., software delivered electronically), including technology and software that requires an export license and mass market software exported electronically." This is true regardless of value.

Export License Requirements

Most export transactions do not require specific approval from the U.S. Government. The Department of Commerce has jurisdiction over "dual use" exports (commercial items which could have military applications) as well as purely commercial items. Other U.S. government agencies regulate more specialized exports. For example, the U.S. Department of State has authority over defense articles and defense services. Before shipping your product, make sure you have determined the export license requirements for your transaction.

Companies who use the Internet to reach overseas customers frequently use their website to process orders and accept payments. To ease international customers' use, companies should consider installing currency converters on the payment page. Additionally, as payment practices usually vary from country to country, it is important that the prevalent payment mechanisms be identified and incorporated into the order-processing component of the web site. U.S. Commercial Service Trade Specialists in your target market can help you identify a country's most common payment mechanisms, which you should consider before commencing cross-border e-commerce in a particular market. See also, research on the Top Internet Markets FAQ .

Covered In This Section:

• Credit Card Payments
• Account-to-Account Transfers
• Person-to-Person Transfers
• Taxation

Credit Card Payments

For B2C transactions, many overseas customers use credit cards for online purchases, but credit cards are not a universally common method of online payment. For example, regulations in some countries hold cardholders liable for fraudulent charges, other countries are culturally cash-based, and others simply do not like credit. Nonetheless, to offer credit card payment services, a company must establish a credit card merchant account with a bank. The bank will process the transactions in exchange for a fee. Companies should compare the fee structures of banks to see which works best for the size and number of transactions expected.

While fast, credit cards carry their risks. Chargebacks can be very costly for online exporters. Common chargeback reasons are: fraud, dispute over the quality of merchandise, non-receipt of merchandise, or amount charged to card was incorrect. Companies accepting online credit card transactions should be knowledgeable about their credit card and bank's policies toward chargebacks and how to avoid them.

Account-to-Account (A2A) Transfers

A2A transfers, in which money is transferred electronically between the customer’s and merchant’s bank, are popular in many countries. A2A transactions offer the advantages of occurring in real time and reduce the potential for fraud and chargebacks. Unfortunately, because A2A transactions are rare in the U.S., few U.S. banks currently offer this service.

Person-to-Person (P2P) Transfers

There are many companies offering P2P services, in which funds are sent electronically to a third party, which in turn deposits the funds in the merchant's account. An example of a P2P service provider that conducts cross-border transaction is PayPal. PayPal lets anyone with an email address securely send and receive online payments using their credit card or bank account. PayPal will also conduct currency exchange, allowing the customer and merchant to operate in their preferred currency. Other P2P providers, such as Western Union's BidPay, accept a credit card payment from the payer and send a money order to the payee. Internationally, P2P transfers have come under some degree of scrutiny (see a United Nations Discussion Paper about Informal Money Transfer Systems ), so it is advisable to consult with a Commercial Service officer in the country you are targeting before deciding on a particular payment mechanism.

Taxation

An online merchant selling to international customers must pay careful attention to the tax implications of those sales. In general, once a company crosses a certain threshold of activity in a foreign country, the company becomes subject to income tax in that foreign country. In many cases, a company must have a "permanent establishment" in the foreign country before that country will subject the company to income tax on the company's business profits from that country. Thus, for example, an American online vendor of digitally- or physically- delivered products that does not have equipment or personnel in Japan generally would not be subject to Japanese income tax on its sales. However, there are important exceptions to this general rule. Some payments from customers in a foreign country may be subject to withholding tax by the foreign country (e.g., if the foreign country determines that the payments are "royalties" or other payments subject to withholding).

Electronically delivered goods should be treated like any other sale to a foreign customer. It generally is the responsibility of the customer/importer to declare their purchase and pay any taxes. Tax and tariff information on a country-by-country basis is available, or contact a Commercial Specialist in the targeted country for more information.

Market Development on the Web

As with brick and mortar enterprises, market development is an essential ingredient for all of the above models and must be an integral part of a firm's e-business presence on the Internet. Companies should consider and evaluate the advantages of advertising online as an extension and component of their corporate growth strategies and as part of their international marketing efforts. Advertising messages often appear on portals or other websites that draw viewers with content (news, information) and services (such as email, chat, forums, etc.). Companies may seek to advertise on search engines that attract high traffic volume (e.g., Yahoo!) or target a specialized demographic (e.g., ivillage ). Some portals sell favorable link positioning or advertising keyed to particular search terms in a user query (e.g., Overture). Companies may also consider using an advertising network that feeds ads to a network of sites, thereby enabling large marketing campaigns (e.g, Doubleclick). (Note that all the websites listed above have been internationalized or have local mirror sites.)

Direct E-mail

Direct E-mail may be a good way to promote web presence, depending on the market, product, or service. Direct e-mail is an inexpensive way to reach thousands of potential customers. However, several countries have legislation prohibiting or restricting unsolicited commercial email (see the Direct Marketing Association homepage at http://www.the-dma.org for more information on international spam legislation), and certainly any email must not constitute fraud. The Direct Marketing Association suggests that any email marketing should have:

1. an honest subject line;
2. no forged headers or technological deceptions;
3. the identity of the sender, which includes a "physical" address, and
4. an opt-out that works and is easy to find and easy to use (although note that some countries may specify an opt-in approach. Research spam legislation for the country you are targeting.)

Identifying Your E-Markets

Deciding which markets to target is one of the most important decisions a potential exporter can make. It is important to learn how to research foreign markets and tailor your products to regional tastes. U.S. Commercial Service trade specialists in your target market can help you identify market research needs you should consider for cross-border e-commerce. See also, research on the "Top Internet Markets FAQ ".

Step-by-Step Approach to Market Research

Learn how to best utilize the market research made available by the U.S. government on the internet.

Market Reseach Reports

Search the market research library, view a video market report, or find a wealth of country and industry-specific reports and trade statistics.

Types of E-Commerce Web Sites

Electronic commerce offers much promise to U.S. firms interested in using the Internet as another vehicle for exporting. However, the marketing executive should be familiar with the steps necessary to make the firm's web site e-export capable. Many U.S. companies have a web site that fulfills one or more marketing functions tailored to their business specialties. These sites feature one or more of the following characteristics (Note: all of the sites given as examples below have been internationalized or have localized mirror sites to facilitate cross-border e-commerce):

Transactional Site

People who shop online are most familiar with this type of website. A transactional site may be an electronic storefront for a brick-and-mortar retailer or a catalog business, (e.g., Lands’ End ), or a manufacturer showroom for those wishing to sell directly to the public (e.g., Dell Computer ). Transactional sites conduct full “end-to-end” transactions via the website, allowing customers to search for, order, and pay for products online as well as allowing them to contact the company for after-sales service. The most sophisticated sites create efficiencies by integrating the transaction process with back-office systems such as accounting, inventory, sales and others (e.g., Amazon ).

Information Delivery Site

This site generates sales by promoting corporate awareness rather than facilitating online transactions. Its function is similar to a brochure, providing information about the product or service and contact information on how to proceed with a purchase. Because this site is often static and doesn’t require the software systems necessary for online transactions, it is less expensive to design and maintain than the transactional site. An information delivery site is ideal for companies that market products and services that cannot be provided online or goods that cannot be sold online (e.g. Ford , Coudert , Caterpillar ).

A modified version of this site permits the buyer to shop online for the best price from competing vendors providing the identical product, e.g., authorized dealers of Honda America. Information on options available for a particular model allows the buyer to “visualize” the configuration and obtain an estimated price for the vehicle.

E-marketplaces

These sites are market-makers: they bring buyers and sellers together to facilitate transactions. Participation in a brokerage often provides an efficient way of finding a customer without the expense of building a proprietary transactional website. Types of brokerages include auctions (e.g. eBay ), virtual malls (www.virtualmall.com ) and matching services (www.buyusa.gov ).

1. Select A Domain Name

Selecting a domain name for your company's international website(s) is the first important decision you'll make and can potentially have significant marketing implications.

2. Register at Search Engines

Help potential customers find your website by registering with the major search engines in the countries you wish to target.

3. Choose a Web Host

Find a dependable web hosting service to house your localized website(s). Many hosting providers offer additional value-added services such as site maintenance, search registration, site development, etc.

4. Website Content – Localize and Internationalize

Target international customers by tailoring your website to local language and cultural tastes.

5. Execute Orders

Enable your customers a variety of payment options that meet local business practices and be aware of other considerations when doing international business such as taxes, shipping, customs duties, and after sales service.

What do you need to have an online store and what exactly is a shopping cart?

Shopping cart software is an operating system used to allow consumers to purchase goods and or services, track customers, and tie together all aspects of ecommerce into one cohesive whole.

While there are many types of software that you can use, customizable, turnkey solutions are proven to be a cost effective method to build, edit and maintain an online store. How do online shopping carts differ from those found in a grocery store? The image is one of an invisible shopping cart. You enter an online store, see a product that fulfills your demand and you place it into your virtual shopping basket. When you are through browsing, you click checkout and complete the transaction by providing payment information.

To start an online business it is best to find a niche product that consumers have difficulty finding in malls or department stores. Also take shipping into consideration. Pets.com found out the hard way: dog food is expensive to ship FedEx! Then you need an ecommerce enabled website. This can either be a new site developed from scratch, or an existing site to which you can add ecommerce shopping cart capabilities.

The next step, you need a means of accepting online payments. This usually entails obtaining a merchant account and accepting credit cards through an online payment gateway (some smaller sites stick with simpler methods of accepting payments such as PayPal).

Lastly, you need a marketing strategy for driving targeted traffic to your site and a means of enticing repeat customers. If you are new to ecommerce keep things simple- know your limitations.

Ecommerce can be a very rewarding venture, but you cannot make money overnight. It is important to do a lot of research, ask questions, work hard and make on business decisions on facts learned from researching ecommerce. Don't rely on "gut" feelings. We hope our online ecommerce tutorial has helped your business make a better decision in choosing an online shopping cart for your ecommerce store.

Are You E-Commerce Ready?

Companies that have decided on how to portray their business online must assess whether they have the most efficient information technology (IT) solutions to execute their online exporting programs. IT embodies a range of computer systems and software applications for managing a firm's web site, as well as personnel records, back end databases, etc. With more and more cyber attacks on government and corporate sites, companies should invest in security technologies to protect themselves and their customers from identify theft and denial of service.

An IT assessment should answer the following questions:

• What is the firm’s current IT usage? Is it at capacity? What are the plans for additional ITinvestment to upgrade existing systems?
• What business applications are best suited to move on line for B2B or B2C electronic?
• What does the cost/benefit analysis of all possible projects involving IT show?
• What are possible current and future security issues and what is the action plan for correcting problems?

There are, of course, many other factors to consider in doing international e-commerce, such as executing orders and payment issues that have a special e-commerce perspective, which are are addressed in other parts of this site.

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Some advantages that can be achieved from e-commerce include:
Being able to conduct business 24 x 7 x 365 . E-commerce systems can operate all day every day. Your physical storefront does not need to be open in order for customers and suppliers to be doing business with you electronically.
Access the global marketplace . The Internet spans the world, and it is possible to do business with any business or person who is connected to the Internet. Simple local businesses such as specialist record stores are able to market and sell their offerings internationally using e-commerce. This global opportunity is assisted by the fact that, unlike traditional communications methods, users are not charged according to the distance over which they are communicating.
Speed. Electronic communications allow messages to traverse the world almost instantaneously. There is no need to wait weeks for a catalogue to arrive by post: that communications delay is not a part of the Internet / e-commerce world.
Marketspace. The market in which web-based businesses operate is the global market. It may not be evident to them, but many businesses are already facing international competition from web-enabled businesses.
Opportunity to reduce costs. The Internet makes it very easy to 'shop around' for products and services that may be cheaper or more effective than we might otherwise settle for. It is sometimes possible to, through some online research, identify original manufacturers for some goods - thereby bypassing wholesalers and achieving a cheaper price.
Computer platform-independent . 'Many, if not most, computers have the ability to communicate via the Internet independent of operating systems and hardware. Customers are not limited by existing hardware systems' (Gascoyne & Ozcubukcu, 1997:87).
Efficient applications development environment - 'In many respects, applications can be more efficiently developed and distributed because the can be built without regard to the customer's or the business partner's technology platform. Application updates do not have to be manually installed on computers. Rather, Internet-related technologies provide this capability inherently through automatic deployment of software updates' (Gascoyne & Ozcubukcu, 1997:87).
Allowing customer self service and 'customer outsourcing'. People can interact with businesses at any hour of the day that it is convenient to them, and because these interactions are initiated by customers, the customers also provide a lot of the data for the transaction that may otherwise need to be entered by business staff. This means that some of the work and costs are effectively shifted to customers; this is referred to as 'customer outsourcing'.
Stepping beyond borders to a global view. Using aspects of e-commerce technology can mean your business can source and use products and services provided by other businesses in other countries. This seems obvious enough to say, but people do not always consider the implications of e-commerce. For example, in many ways it can be easier and cheaper to host and operate some e-commerce activities outside Australia. Further, because many e-commerce transactions involve credit cards, many businesses in Australia need to make arrangements for accepting online payments. However a number of major Australian banks have tended to be unhelpful laggards on this front, charging a lot of money and making it difficult to establish these arrangements - particularly for smaller businesses and/or businesses that don't fit into a traditional-economy understanding of business. In some cases, therefore, it can be easier and cheaper to set up arrangements which bypass this aspect of the Australian banking system. Admittedly, this can create some grey areas for legal and taxation purposes, but these can be dealt with. And yes these circumstances do have implications for Australia's national competitiveness and the competitiveness of our industries and businesses.
As a further thought, many businesses find it easier to buy and sell in U.S. dollars: it is effectively the major currency of the Internet. In this context, global online customers can find the concept of peculiar and unfamiliar currencies disconcerting. Some businesses find they can achieve higher prices online and in US dollars than they would achieve selling locally or nationally. Given that banks often charge fees for converting currencies, this is another reason to investigate all of your (national and international) options for accepting and making online payments.
In brief, it is useful to take a global view with regard the potential and organisation of your e-commerce activities, especially if you are targeting global customers.
A new marketing channel. The Internet provides an important new channel to sell to consumers. Peterson et al. (1999) suggest that, as a marketing channel, the Internet has the following characteristics:
the ability to inexpensively store vast amounts of information at different virtual locations
the availability of powerful and inexpensive means of searching, organising, and disseminating such information
interactivity and the ability to provide information on demand
the ability to provide perceptual experiences that are far superior to a printed catalogue, although not as rich as personal inspection
the capability to serve as a transaction medium
the ability to serve as a physical distribution medium for certain goods (e.g., software)
relatively low entry and establishment costs for sellers
no other existing marketing channel possesses all of these characteristics.
Some of these advantages and their surrounding issues are discussed below in further detail.

Some advantages that can be achieved from e-commerce include:
Being able to conduct business 24 x 7 x 365 . E-commerce systems can operate all day every day. Your physical storefront does not need to be open in order for customers and suppliers to be doing business with you electronically.
Access the global marketplace . The Internet spans the world, and it is possible to do business with any business or person who is connected to the Internet. Simple local businesses such as specialist record stores are able to market and sell their offerings internationally using e-commerce. This global opportunity is assisted by the fact that, unlike traditional communications methods, users are not charged according to the distance over which they are communicating.
Speed. Electronic communications allow messages to traverse the world almost instantaneously. There is no need to wait weeks for a catalogue to arrive by post: that communications delay is not a part of the Internet / e-commerce world.
Marketspace. The market in which web-based businesses operate is the global market. It may not be evident to them, but many businesses are already facing international competition from web-enabled businesses.
Opportunity to reduce costs. The Internet makes it very easy to 'shop around' for products and services that may be cheaper or more effective than we might otherwise settle for. It is sometimes possible to, through some online research, identify original manufacturers for some goods - thereby bypassing wholesalers and achieving a cheaper price.
Computer platform-independent . 'Many, if not most, computers have the ability to communicate via the Internet independent of operating systems and hardware. Customers are not limited by existing hardware systems' (Gascoyne & Ozcubukcu, 1997:87).
Efficient applications development environment - 'In many respects, applications can be more efficiently developed and distributed because the can be built without regard to the customer's or the business partner's technology platform. Application updates do not have to be manually installed on computers. Rather, Internet-related technologies provide this capability inherently through automatic deployment of software updates' (Gascoyne & Ozcubukcu, 1997:87).
Allowing customer self service and 'customer outsourcing'. People can interact with businesses at any hour of the day that it is convenient to them, and because these interactions are initiated by customers, the customers also provide a lot of the data for the transaction that may otherwise need to be entered by business staff. This means that some of the work and costs are effectively shifted to customers; this is referred to as 'customer outsourcing'.
Stepping beyond borders to a global view. Using aspects of e-commerce technology can mean your business can source and use products and services provided by other businesses in other countries. This seems obvious enough to say, but people do not always consider the implications of e-commerce. For example, in many ways it can be easier and cheaper to host and operate some e-commerce activities outside Australia. Further, because many e-commerce transactions involve credit cards, many businesses in Australia need to make arrangements for accepting online payments. However a number of major Australian banks have tended to be unhelpful laggards on this front, charging a lot of money and making it difficult to establish these arrangements - particularly for smaller businesses and/or businesses that don't fit into a traditional-economy understanding of business. In some cases, therefore, it can be easier and cheaper to set up arrangements which bypass this aspect of the Australian banking system. Admittedly, this can create some grey areas for legal and taxation purposes, but these can be dealt with. And yes these circumstances do have implications for Australia's national competitiveness and the competitiveness of our industries and businesses.
As a further thought, many businesses find it easier to buy and sell in U.S. dollars: it is effectively the major currency of the Internet. In this context, global online customers can find the concept of peculiar and unfamiliar currencies disconcerting. Some businesses find they can achieve higher prices online and in US dollars than they would achieve selling locally or nationally. Given that banks often charge fees for converting currencies, this is another reason to investigate all of your (national and international) options for accepting and making online payments.
In brief, it is useful to take a global view with regard the potential and organisation of your e-commerce activities, especially if you are targeting global customers.
A new marketing channel. The Internet provides an important new channel to sell to consumers. Peterson et al. (1999) suggest that, as a marketing channel, the Internet has the following characteristics:
the ability to inexpensively store vast amounts of information at different virtual locations
the availability of powerful and inexpensive means of searching, organising, and disseminating such information
interactivity and the ability to provide information on demand
the ability to provide perceptual experiences that are far superior to a printed catalogue, although not as rich as personal inspection
the capability to serve as a transaction medium
the ability to serve as a physical distribution medium for certain goods (e.g., software)
relatively low entry and establishment costs for sellers
no other existing marketing channel possesses all of these characteristics.
Some of these advantages and their surrounding issues are discussed below in further detail.

Some disadvantages and constraints of e-commerce include the following.
Time for delivery of physical products . It is possible to visit a local music store and walk out with a compact disc, or a bookstore and leave with a book. E-commerce is often used to buy goods that are not available locally from businesses all over the world, meaning that physical goods need to be delivered, which takes time and costs money. In some cases there are ways around this, for example, with electronic files of the music or books being accessed across the Internet, but then these are not physical goods.
Physical product, supplier & delivery uncertainty . When you walk out of a shop with an item, it's yours. You have it; you know what it is, where it is and how it looks. In some respects e-commerce purchases are made on trust. This is because, firstly, not having had physical access to the product, a purchase is made on an expectation of what that product is and its condition. Secondly, because supplying businesses can be conducted across the world, it can be uncertain whether or not they are legitimate businesses and are not just going to take your money. It's pretty hard to knock on their door to complain or seek legal recourse! Thirdly, even if the item is sent, it is easy to start wondering whether or not it will ever arrive.
Perishable goods . Forget about ordering a single gelato ice cream from a shop in Rome! Though specialised or refrigerated transport can be used, goods bought and sold via the Internet tend to be durable and non-perishable: they need to survive the trip from the supplier to the purchasing business or consumer. This shifts the bias for perishable and/or non-durable goods back towards traditional supply chain arrangements, or towards relatively more local e-commerce-based purchases, sales and distribution. In contrast, durable goods can be traded from almost anyone to almost anyone else, sparking competition for lower prices. In some cases this leads to disintermediation in which intermediary people and businesses are bypassed by consumers and by other businesses that are seeking to purchase more directly from manufacturers.
Limited and selected sensory information. The Internet is an effective conduit for visual and auditory information: seeing pictures, hearing sounds and reading text. However it does not allow full scope for our senses: we can see pictures of the flowers, but not smell their fragrance; we can see pictures of a hammer, but not feel its weight or balance. Further, when we pick up and inspect something, we choose what we look at and how we look at it. This is not the case on the Internet. If we were looking at buying a car on the Internet, we would see the pictures the seller had chosen for us to see but not the things we might look for if we were able to see it in person. And, taking into account our other senses, we can't test the car to hear the sound of the engine as it changes gears or sense the smell and feel of the leather seats. There are many ways in which the Internet does not convey the richness of experiences of the world. This lack of sensory information means that people are often much more comfortable buying via the Internet generic goods - things that they have seen or experienced before and about which there is little ambiguity, rather than unique or complex things.
Returning goods. Returning goods online can be an area of difficulty. The uncertainties surrounding the initial payment and delivery of goods can be exacerbated in this process. Will the goods get back to their source? Who pays for the return postage? Will the refund be paid? Will I be left with nothing? How long will it take? Contrast this with the offline experience of returning goods to a shop.
Privacy, security, payment, identity, contract. Many issues arise - privacy of information, security of that information and payment details, whether or not payment details (eg credit card details) will be misused, identity theft, contract, and, whether we have one or not, what laws and legal jurisdiction apply.
Defined services & the unexpected . E-commerce is an effective means for managing the transaction of known and established services, that is, things that are everyday. It is not suitable for dealing with the new or unexpected. For example, a transport company used to dealing with simple packages being asked if it can transport a hippopotamus, or a customer asking for a book order to be wrapped in blue and white polka dot paper with a bow. Such requests need human intervention to investigate and resolve.
Personal service . Although some human interaction can be facilitated via the web, e-commerce can not provide the richness of interaction provided by personal service. For most businesses, e-commerce methods provide the equivalent of an information-rich counter attendant rather than a salesperson. This also means that feedback about how people react to product and service offerings also tends to be more granular or perhaps lost using e-commerce approaches. If your only feedback is that people are (or are not) buying your products or services online, this is inadequate for evaluating how to change or improve your e-commerce strategies and/or product and service offerings. Successful business use of e-commerce typically involves strategies for gaining and applying customer feedback. This helps businesses to understand, anticipate and meet changing online customer needs and preferences, which is critical because of the comparatively rapid rate of ongoing Internet-based change.
Size and number of transactions. E-commerce is most often conducted using credit card facilities for payments, and as a result very small and very large transactions tend not to be conducted online. The size of transactions is also impacted by the economics of transporting physical goods. For example, any benefits or conveniences of buying a box of pens online from a US-based business tend to be eclipsed by the cost of having to pay for them to be delivered to you in Australia. The delivery costs also mean that buying individual items from a range of different overseas businesses is significantly more expensive than buying all of the goods from one overseas business because the goods can be packaged and shipped together.
Reflecting some of the comments above, the following chart (Figure 1.6) shows some of the complaints made by Australian e-consumers.

There are four ways to receive order notifications:1. You will receive a detailed E-mail for each order placed by a customer.2. You can view orders simply by using your Web browser: Just log in to your Administration Site. Once you've entered your Username (Company ID) and password, you'll be able to view the orders over a secure connection. You can also export the information to Quickbooks, Peachtree?, or any other accounting software.3. You can have the orders sent to you via fax.

Updation always brings good changes and effectiveness. There is no standard time related to how often a new version of a website should be established. However, the market indicates that most companies are making substantial changes every two to three months on average. Most of these changes reflect better service to the customer and the roll out of a new product or service. Others are based on keeping the customer interested or entertained enough to come back to the site. One particularly interesting piece of advice is that organizations can use an advisory board or group to provide feedback on their site. This group is open to suggest changes to the current structure based upon personal use as well as by comparison to competitor's sites.

How can one start with e-commerce without any heavy investment? 'Todays scientific and economy worlds demands unique ways for most kinds of job completion. Vendors and service providers will continually try to find unique ways to provide low-cost services to small businesses. One quick example is the numerous websites offering free development and hosting. For example, the sites offer a web development application in a "wysiwyg" (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) style that allows each person the ability to create their own type of website. Other options include participation in an online marketplace. These mechanisms are roughly designed to simulate a real marketplace that will attract customers due to a shop-at-once mentality instead of surfing the Internet for different goods and services. A fast developing theme among new and old participants in the digital economy is the use of ASPs (application service providers). These service providers allow you to purchase many of the off-the-shelf operating applications that you may use to run your business (finances to human resource management to inventory processing) at a much lower cost as well as have someone else manage and host the data. It also reduces the time and labor force necessary to run such types of operations. A final recommendation is the notion of partnering. Finding similar organizations that can share resources and expenses can help you achieve your goals in the digital economy. The key role of the digital economy and electronic commerce is to help your traditional organizational processes and daily routines and automate them through the Internet. The use of electronic commerce can very well share the burden burden and can help minimize the expense and difficulty. It stimulate a potential relationship for furthering business behavior.

What is E-Commerce ?What is E-Commerce', 'Electronic Commerce (EC) is the paperless exchange of business information using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and related technologies. If you are familiar with Electronic Mail (E-Mail), computer bulletin boards, facsimile machines (faxes), Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) You can very well understand what is e-commerce. These are all forms of EC. All EC systems replace all or key parts of paper-based work flow with faster, cheaper, more efficient, and more reliable communications between machines. In today's Defense Department procurement arena, however the most important EC technology to know about is Electronic Data Interchange, or EDI.

Mobile ticketing
Tickets can be sent to mobile phones using a variety of technologies . Users are then able to use their tickets immediately by presenting their phones at the venue.
Tickets can be booked and cancelled on the mobile with the help of simple application downloads or by accessing WAP portals of various Travel agents or direct service providers.
Mobile ticketing for airports, ballparks, and train stations, for example, will not only streamline unexpected metropolitan traffic surges, but also help users remotely secure parking spots (even while in their vehicles) and greatly facilitate mass surveillance at transport hubs.
Mobile vouchers, coupons and loyalty cards
Mobile ticketing technology can also be used for the distribution of vouchers, coupons and loyalty cards. The voucher, coupon, or loyalty card is represented by a virtual token that is sent to the mobile phone. Presenting a mobile phone with one of these tokens at the point of sale allows the customer to receive the same benefits as another customer who has a loyalty card or other paper coupon/voucher. Coupons may be sent to a customer utilizing location based services when he is in a certain physical proximity (e.g. passing by the store). Mobile delivery enables:

• economy of scale
• quicker and easier delivery
• effective target marketing
• privacy-friendly data mining on consumer behaviour
• environment-friendly and resources-saving efficacy

Content purchase and delivery
Currently, mobile content purchase and delivery mainly consists of the sale of ring-tones, wallpapers, and games for mobile phones. The convergence of mobile phones, mp3 players and video players into a single device will result in an increase in the purchase and delivery of full-length music tracks and video. Download speeds, if increased to 4G levels,will make it possible to buy a movie on a mobile device in a couple of seconds, while on the go.

Location-based services
Unlike a home PC, the location of the mobile phone user is an important piece of information used during mobile commerce transactions. Knowing the location of the user allows for location based services such as:
• local maps
• local offers
• local weather
• people tracking and monitoring Information services.

A wide variety of information services can be delivered to mobile phone users in much the same way as it is delivered to PCs. These services include:
• news services
• stock data
• sports results
• financial records
• traffic data and information

Particularly, more customized traffic information, based on users' travel patterns, will be multicast on a differentiated basis, instead of broadcasting the same news and data to all Users. This type of multicasting will be suited for more bandwidth-intensive mobile equipment.

Mobile banking
Banks and other financial institutions are exploring the use of mobile commerce to allow their customers to not only access account information, but also make transactions, e.g. purchasing stocks, remitting money, via mobile phones and other mobile equipment. This service is often referred to as Mobile Banking or M-Banking.

Mobile brokerage
Stock market services offered via mobile devices have also become more popular and are known as Mobile Brokerage. They allow the subscriber to react to market developments in a timely fashion and irrespective of their physical location.

While e-government is often thought of as "online government" or "Internet-based government," many non-Internet "electronic government" technologies can be used in this context. Some non-Internet forms include telephone, fax, PDA, SMS text messaging, MMS, wireless networks and services, Bluetooth, CCTV, tracking systems, RFID, biometric identification, road traffic management and regulatory enforcement, identity cards, smart cards and other Near Field Communication applications; polling station technology (where non-online e-voting is being considered), TV and radio-based delivery of government services, email, online community facilities, newsgroups and electronic mailing lists, online chat, and instant messaging technologies.

The primary delivery models of e-Government can be divided into:

• Government-to-Citizen or Government-to-Customer (G2C)
• Government-to-Business (G2B)
• Government-to-Government (G2G)
• Government-to-Employees (G2E)

Within each of these interaction domains, four kinds of activities take place

• pushing information over the Internet, e.g: regulatory services, general holidays, public hearing schedules, issue briefs, notifications, etc.
• two-way communications between the agency and the citizen, a business, or another government agency. In this model, users can engage in dialogue with agencies and post problems, comments, or requests to the agency.
• conducting transactions, e.g: lodging tax returns, applying for services and grants. • governance, e.g: online polling, voting, and campaigning.

Some common applications related to electronic commerce are the following:

• Email

• Enterprise content management

• Instant messaging

• Newsgroups

• Online shopping and order tracking

• Online banking

• Online office suites

• Domestic and international payment systems

• Shopping cart software

• Teleconferencing

• Electronic tickets

• 1990: Tim Berners-Lee writes the first web browser, WorldWideWeb, using a NeXT computer.

• 1992: J.H. Snider and Terra Ziporyn publish Future Shop: How New Technologies Will Change the Way We Shop and What We Buy. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312063598.

• 1994: Netscape releases the Navigator browser in October under the code name Mozilla. Pizza Hut offers pizza ordering on its Web page. The first online bank opens. Attempts to offer flower delivery and magazine subscriptions online. Adult materials also becomes commercially available, as do cars and bikes. Netscape 1.0 is introduced in late 1994 SSL encryption that made transactions secure.

• 1995: Jeff Bezos launches Amazon.com and the first commercial-free 24 hour, internet-only radio stations, Radio HK and NetRadio start broadcasting. Dell and Cisco begin to aggressively use Internet for commercial transactions. eBay is founded by computer programmer Pierre Omidyar as AuctionWeb.

• 1998: Electronic postal stamps can be purchased and downloaded for printing from the Web.

• 1999: Business.com sold for US $7.5 million to eCompanies, which was purchased in 1997 for US $149,000. The peer-to-peer filesharing software Napster launches. ATG Stores launches to sell decorative items for the home online.

• 2000: The dot-com bust.

• 2002: eBay acquires PayPal for $1.5 billion [2]. Niche retail companies CSN Stores and NetShops are founded with the concept of selling products through several targeted domains, rather than a central portal.

• 2003: Amazon.com posts first yearly profit.

• 2007: Business.com acquired by R.H. Donnelley for $345 million[3].

• 2008: US eCommerce and Online Retail sales projected to reach $204 billion, an increase of 17 percent over 2007[4].