4.8 E-commerce

4.8 E-commerce

Learning outcomes

E-commerce refers to the buying of goods and services online, using Internet technologies. Companies such as Amazon, eBay and Alibaba rely totally on e-commerce. Being online means an organization is connected to computers systems and telecommunications system (such as the Internet or an online database). E-commerce entails customers being able to order products online.

Almost all businesses are increasingly relying on e-commerce as a platform to sell goods and services (such as InThinking!)

There is no doubt that e-commerce is a vital business strategy for many organization. In 2015, Tom Goodwin, an executive at the French media group Havas, stated the following:

  • Uber - The world’s largest taxi company doesn't owns any vehicles.
  • Facebook - The world’s most popular media network creates no content of its own.
  • Alibaba - The world’s most valuable retailer has no inventory.
  • Airbnb - The world’s largest accommodation provider doesn't owns any of its own real estate.
  • Netflix - the world’s largest movie house doesn’t owns any cinemas.

Top tip!

Students may be well-versed with e-commerce, especially those who study ITGS or Computer Science. However, they need to remember that this is a Business Management course, so must not get carried away with explaining e-commerce from an ICT or technical perspective. Instead, they must focus on how e-commerce works for an organization, written in the context of a business case study.

The learning outcomes (or assessment objectives) for this section of the syllabus are:

  • Features of e-commerce (AO1)
  • The effects of changing technology and e-commerce on the marketing mix (AO2)
  • The difference between the following types of e-commerce (AO2):
    • business to business (B2B)
    • business to consumer (B2C)
    • consumer to consumer (C2C)
  • The costs and benefits of e-commerce to firms and consumers (AO3)

ATL Activity

Watch this short video to see how far technology has come - with kids reacting to a very old personal desk computer (pre-internet):

Computers have come a very long way since the 1970s - watch how frustrated the children become trying to get the computer to calculate 2 + 2 (one child even speaks to the computer expecting the computer go give her the answer!)

This video is worth showing your students, who will emphasise with the kids in the video, but also provide some insight to the first generation of personal computers which ultimately led to the Internet revolution and e-commerce (the smartphone is introduced towards the end of the video).

Click the hyperlinks below to access the InThinking resources for this particular section of the syllabus.

InThinking Business Management resources

Other resources

  • Download this infographic from Infographic Journal to see how the internet has revolutionized our world.

CUEGIS essay

Examine how change has impacted on the e-commerce strategy for a business organization you have studied. [20 marks]

Students can choose to investigate an e-commerce business (e-tailer) such as Amazon, eBay, Google, Facebook, Netflix, Uber, Airbnb or Alibaba - without the Internet, these companies would not exist.

Alternatively, students can choose traditional retailers that have had to change their strategies due to the world embracing Internet technologies, such as the increased use of e-commerce and mobile apps on smartphones and tablet computers. Almost all businesses have some presence on the world wide web, so students are free to choose between sole traders or multinationals, for-profit or non-profit, and businesses from the primary, secondary for tertiary sector(s).

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