Unit 1: Introduction to E-Commerce

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E-Commerce Vs Traditional Commerce

Traditional Commerce

Commerce is simply the process of buying, selling, or exchanging products and services between and among organizations and individuals. Every commercial transaction involves the following three main components or dimensions

• Product or service

• Process

• Delivery agent (or intermediary)

The commerce in which all the above components are physical is called traditional commerce. For example, if we go to a supermarket, we purchase some fruits, vegetables, and other products, pay bills at the counter, and load the purchased products in a vehicle for delivery it becomes traditional commerce.

Traditional commerce normally buys, sells, or exchanges products and services within an industry and in some cases, within a specific geographical area. It relies on operating business hours during a specific period of time and requires housing inventory or occupying a retail store. Traditional Commerce is based on the following facts.

• It needs to hire sales executives, sales managers, accountants, and other staff,

• It operates at business hours within a certain period of time.

• It does not share information with the competitors.

• It often relies on face-to-face interaction with consumers and its success is based on word of mouth, networking and customer referrals for new and repeat business.

E-Commerce

The commerce in which all or at least one of the above components (product or services, process, delivery agent) is digital is called E-commerce. In its broadest definition, ECommerce is digitally enabled commercial transactions between and among organizations and individuals. Digitally enabled means, for the most part, transactions that occur over the Internet and World Wide Web (WWW).

E-Commerce is a modern business methodology that addresses the needs of organizations, merchants, and consumers to cut or reduce costs while improving the quality of goods and services and increasing the speed of service delivery. More commonly, e-commerce is associated with the buying and selling of information, products, and services via digital networks. Electronic commerce can take several forms depending on the degree of digitization (me transformation from physical to digital) involved. The degree of digitization can relate to

• The product (service) sold

• The process

• The delivery agent (or intermediary).

A product can be physical or digital, the process can be physical or digital, and the delivery can be physical or digital. As already mentioned, in traditional commerce all three dimensions are physical, and in pure E-Commerce all dimensions are digital. All other combinations include a mix of digital and physical dimensions. If there is at least one digital dimension, we consider the situation electronic commerce but only partial E-Commerce, For example, buying a shirt at Walmart Online, or a book from Amazon.com is partial E-Commerce because the merchandise is physically delivered. However, buying an e-book from Amazon.com or a software product from Buy.com is pure E-Commerce, because the product, its delivery, payment, and transfer agent are all done online. E-commerce is based on the following facts.

• It needs to deploy a sophisticated website to facilitate order, payment, and delivery of at least any one of these dimensions.

• It operates at any time.

• It shares information such as the price of products with the competitors.

• It often relies on efficient services provided to customers and its success is based on reduction in cost by lowering overheads.

How E-Commerce Differs from Traditional Commerce

Core Strategy Decisions are Technology-Based: Core strategic decisions such as a virtual storefront, customer service, the content of web site, etc are highly integrated with technology in the case of E-commerce and such decisions are not tightly integrated with technology in case of traditional commerce.
Real-time Competitiveness: With E-Commerce speed of decision-making can be reduced to a minute from a month and organizations can involve in dynamic dialogues with customers which are not possible in traditional commerce.
The Store is Always Open: The web store is always expected to be open which has great significance for customers and suppliers. Buyers can gather information, search products, compare prices, and order products at any time. This is almost impossible with traditional commerce.
Technology-Based Customer Interface: E-commerce supports screen-to-face interaction which has the potential to increase sales and decrease cost. Human intervention in the process of buying and selling may be eliminated or at least reduced. On the other hand, human intervention is necessary for traditional commerce which may take more time and may also increase the cost.
Customer Controls the Interaction: E-Commerce largely adopts the self-service model. Customers themselves search for products, compare prices, and make the decision of purchasing. But, in traditional E-Commerce sells persons may influence the decisions of customers.
Knowledge of Customer Behavior: E-Commerce systems can store information about purchasing behavior of customers and use it to provide customized offerings, make recommendations for them, etc which is not possible with traditional commerce.

E-commerce Terminologies and Fundamentals

Electronic Business

Electronic Business is commonly referred to as "E-Business" or "e-business" and is defined as the application of information and communication technologies to support all the activities of E-Commerce business. It is not only the buying and selling of goods but also servicing customers and collaborating with business partners. Commerce constitutes the exchange of Products and services between businesses, groups, and individuals and can be seen as one of the essential activities of any business. Electronic business methods enable companies to link their internal and external data processing systems more efficiently and flexibly, to work more closely with suppliers and partners, and to better satisfy the needs and expectations, and expectations of their customers.

Actually, e-business is more than just e-commerce. While e-business refers to a more strategic focus with an emphasis on the functions that occur using electronic capabilities, e-commerce is a subset of an overall e-business strategy. E-commerce seeks to add revenue streams using the World Wide Web or the Internet to build and enhance relationships with clients and partners and to improve efficiency. For example, a company's online inventory control mechanisms are a component of e-business and the online selling of company products is e-commerce.

Electronic Market

An electronic market or electronic marketplace is a place where shoppers and sellers meet electronically. In electronic markets, sellers and buyers negotiate, submit bids, agree on an order, and finish the execution online or offline. There are many different types of e-marketplaces operating today. We may divide e-marketplaces into those controlled by sellers, those controlled by buyers, and those controlled by neutral third parties. Services offered by e-marketplaces include electronic catalogs for online purchasing of goods and services, business directory listings, and online auctions. The electronic market is also referred to from many other terms like electronic exchanges/internet exchanges/ online exchanges, electronic hubs/trading hubs or trading exchanges, etc.

Electronic Exchange

An electronic exchange can trade different types of materials. The materials that are used in production, such as steel or paper in books, are called direct materials. On the other hand, materials that are used for supporting productions, such as light bulbs, office supplies, etc called indirect materials. Purchasing goods and services as they are needed at an existing price is called spot sourcing. In this case, price is normally determined by supply and Stock prices at stock exchanges, commodity exchanges such as oil, sugar, corn examples of spot sourcing. On the other hand, purchasing goods and services on long-term contracts are called systematic sourcing or strategic sourcing.

The market that deals with products as services in one industry or segment are called a vertical market. Examples of such products and services include steel, chemical, etc. And the market that deals with products and services required for all types of industries is called a horizontal market. Examples of such products and services include PCs, office appliances, etc. On the basis of the type of material traded and sourcing strategy used electronic exchanges (or B2B exchanges) can be classified into the following categories.

If strategic sourcing of direct material is done, market makers collect buyers, sellers, or both and provide a platform for negotiation and contract. Such exchanges are called vertical distributors. Plastics.com is an example of a vertical distributor. On the other hand, if systematic sourcing of indirect material is done, market makers aggregate catalogs from many sellers and connect them to the order processing system. Buyers can browse items provided by sellers and compare prices. MRO.com is an example of, a horizontal distributor. Spot sourcing of direct material takes place in vertical exchanges. Isteelasia.com is an example of such an exchange. On the other hand spot sourcing of indirect materials take place in horizontal exchanges and employease.com is an example of such exchange.

Portal

A portal is a Web site that offers a broad array of resources and services, such as e-mail, online discussion groups, search engines, and online shopping malls. There are general portals and specialized or niche portals. Leading general portals include Yahoo!, Netscape, Microsoft, and America Online. Examples of niche portals include Garden.com (for gardeners), Fool.com (for investors), and Search Networking.com (for network administrators).

Electronic Catalogue

Electronic catalogs a list of products and services offered by the sellers. Some catalogs list product information on a general level, others are very detailed. Some are quite informative while others are more promotional. Some carry pictures and others do not. Catalogs facilitate the search for products and suppliers in industries with a wide range of products and producers. Prices published in a catalog are generally fixed and often not disclosed to customers prior to registration since different buyers might have agreed on different prices.

Electronic Auction

Online auctions are computerized versions of traditional auctions where buyers bid against each other. The main power of electronic auction is that vast numbers of businesses or individuals can bid allowing sellers or buyers to get the best price. www.ebay.com, www bazze.com, etc are examples of auction sites. At the same time, smart buyers can cut the time and cost of examples of auction sites. The two main types of auction are forward auctions and reverse auctions.

Forward auctions are electronic auctions, which can be used by sellers to sell their items to many potential buyers. Sellers and buyers can be individuals, organizations etc. Items are commonly placed at a special site for auction, here the highest price bid acceptable to the seller wins.

Reverse auctions are auctions where the bidder is the seller and not the buyer. The bid reflects how much the buyer is being asked to pay. In this case, the bidder with the lowest amount is the winner, Web-based reverse auctions have become extremely popular for purchasing large amounts of goods or services at the corporate level.

E-procurement is most often used to describe those business to business reverse auctions.

Electronic Store-front

An electronic store-front or e-shop is a single company's Web site where products and services are sold. Mechanisms of e-storefronts for conducting sales include electronic catalogs, a search engine that helps to find products in the catalog, an electronic cart for holding items until check-out, etc. The website of Walmart is an example of an electronic store-front www.bhatbhateni.com is another example of an electronic store-front.

Electronic-mall

An online shopping center where many stores are located is called an e-mall. These are the internet-based counterpart of physically existing Shopping Malls. They can be defined as a collection of multiple online shops within the same website. E-malls provide customers with a wide variety of services and products and they are considered to be more convenient to search than individual electronic store-front. Shopping24.de is an example of electronic mail. Shoping.yahoo.com is another example of an electronic mall.

Unique Features of E-Commerce Technology

The features that set E-Commerce technology apart from others used in traditional commerce are

Ubiquity: internet and web technology is available everywhere: at work, home, and elsewhere via mobile devices. Marketspace is created and can be made available 24/7/365 (365 days of a year, 7 days of a week, and 24 hours of a day).
Global Reach: the technology reaches across national boundaries, around the earth. Commerce is enabled across cultural and national boundaries seamlessly. Potential customer reach extended and reduces barriers to markets.
Universal Standards: Due to the worldwide technical standards of the Internet, the technical standards for conducting e-commerce are universal standards. Most traditional commerce technologies differ from one nation to the next. For instance, television and radio standards differ around the world, as doe's cell telephone technology.
Richness: Video, Audio, graphical, and text messages are possible. Thus it integrates a more powerful marketing message and customer experience. Interactivity: E-Commerce technologies are interactive, meaning they allow two-way communication between merchant and consumer. Television, for an instant, cannot enter into a conversation with a viewer, or request customer information is entered into a form. In contrast, all of these activities are possible on an e-commerce Web site. Interactivity allows an online merchant to engage a consumer in a way similar to a face-to-face experience, but on a much more massive, global scale. 6. Information Density: the technology reduces information costs and increases quantity and quality. Information processing, storage, and communication costs drop dramatically whereas Accuracy and timeliness improve greatly. Thus Information becomes plentiful, cheap, and accurate.
Personalization/Customization: E-commerce technologies permit personalization. This means merchants can target their marketing message to specific individuals by adjusting its customization. This means merchants can service based on a user's preference or prior behavior to the message. The technology also permits customization. Th change the delivered product or service based on a user's preferences.

The benefit of E-Commerce

E-Commerce helps in facilitating and redefining the relationships between or among organizations, and between organizations and individuals for value creation. E-Commerce advantages can be broadly classified in three major categories:

Benefits to Organizations
Benefits to Consumers
Benefits to Society

Benefits to Organizations

E-Commerce helps to expand the marketplace to national and international markets.

It decreases the cost of creating, processing, distributing, storing, and retrieving paper-based information It allows reduced inventories and overhead by facilitating pull-type supply chain management. In pull-type supply management, a business process starts when a request comes from a customer and it uses a just-in-time manufacturing way. The pull-type processing allows for customization of products and services which provides a competitive advantage to its implementers. E-commerce helps organizations to provide better customer services and hence improves the brand image of the company. It supports business processes reengineering (BPR) efforts and provides organizations with integrated departments and increased flexibility. E-commerce lowers telecommunications costs by enabling other forms of communication such as email.

Benefits to Consumers

Enables consumers to shop or do other transactions 24 hours a day, all year round from

almost any location • E-Commerce application provides users more options and quicker delivery of products

and services especially with digitized products E-Commerce application provides user with more options to compare and select the cheaper and better option. A customer can put review comments about a product and can see what others are buying or see the review comments of other customers before making a final buy. Consumers can receive relevant and detailed information in seconds, rather than in days or weeks Commerce increases competition among the organizations, and as result organizations provide substantial discounts to customers.

Benefits to Society

Enables more individuals to work at home, and to do less traveling for shopping, resulting in less traffic on the roads, and low air pollution E-Commerce helps reduce the cost of products so less affluent people can also afford the products. E-Commerce has enabled access to services and products to rural areas as well which are otherwise not available to them. E-Commerce helps the government to deliver public services like health care, education, social services at reduced cost and in an improved way.

Limitation of E-Commerce

Most of the limitations of electronic commerce stem from the newness and the rapidly developing pace of the underlying technologies. These limitations will disappear as electronic commerce matures and becomes more available to and accepted by the general population. ECommerce disadvantages can be broadly classified in two major categories:

Technical Limitations
Non-Technical Limitations

Technical Limitations

There can be a lack of system security, reliability, or standards owing to poor implementation of e-Commerce.
The software development industry is still evolving and keeps changing rapidly. In many countries, network bandwidth might cause an issue as there is insufficient telecommunication bandwidth available.
Special types of web servers or other software might be required by the vendor setting the e-commerce environment apart from network servers.
Sometimes, it becomes difficult to integrate E-Commerce software or website with the existing application or databases.
There could be software and hardware compatibility issues as some E-Commerce software may be incompatible with some operating system or any other component.

Non-Technical Limitations

Initial Cost: The cost of creating or building an E-Commerce application in-house may be very high. There could be delays in launching the E-Commerce application due to mistakes, lack of experience.

User Resistance: User may not trust the site being an unknown faceless seller. Such mistrust makes it difficult to make users switch from physical stores to online or virtual stores.

Security and Privacy: Difficult to ensure security or privacy on online transactions. Lack of touch or feel of products during online shopping makes it not suitable for some products. For example, customers may want to purchase body spray only after smelling its smell.

E-Commerce applications are still evolving and changing rapidly.

Internet access is still not cheaper and is inconvenient to use for many potential customers like one living in remote villages.

E-Commerce Framework

Only those organizations can survive that have a strong fundamental framework based on sound business and market understanding. Framework tells about the detail of how e-commerce can take place. It defines actually how e-commerce is implemented, how online trading or business can be done. It defines important components that should be present to do some transactions.

ECommerce framework is the combination of the following three basic elements.

Supportive infrastructure
Business applications
Public Policies and Technical Standards

Infrastructure

E-Commerce applications will be built on the existing technology infrastructure which is a combination of a myriad of computers, communication networks, and communication software. Infrastructure is defined as "the foundation of a system." The hardware backbone of computers, routers, servers, fiber optics, cables, modems, and other network technologies provides half of the technology equation. The other half includes the software any communications standards that run on top of the hardware, including the core protocols to the Web. Building blocks of the infrastructure consist of following components.

Common Business Services: This infrastructure includes the different methods for facilitating online buying and selling processes. In online commerce, the buyers send an electronic payment as well as some remittance information to the seller. Settlement occurs when the payment and remittance information is authenticated by the seller and authentication methods ensure the security of contents traveling on the network.
Messaging and Information Distribution: The information content transferred over the network consists of text, numbers, pictures, audio, and video. Once contents have been created and stored on a server, messaging and information distribution methods carry that content across the network. Messaging vehicle is called middleware software. Messaging and information distribution include translators that interpret and transform data formats. Different applications used for this purpose includes EDI, email, P2P file transfer, etc.
Multi-media Content and Network Publishing: The Information Superhighway is the transportation foundation that enables the transmission of content. The most prevalent architecture that enables networking publishing is the World Wide Web. The web allows small businesses and individuals to develop content in the form of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and publish it on a web server.
Information Superhighway Infrastructure: is the path through which actual information flows and moves between sender and receiver. Information Superhighway consists of telecommunication companies that provide telephone lines, Cable TV systems that provide coaxial cables and direct broadcast satellite networks, Wireless companies that provide mobile radio and satellite networks, Computer networks include private networks and public data networks like the Internet. All these modes of communication are interconnected. They are connected with routers, switches, bridges, gateways, etc.

Business Applications

These are the web applications that are accessed by customers for the purpose of buying and selling products or services. It includes both inter and intra-organizational and electronic markets. Some of the E-Commerce applications are listed below:

Online Shopping and Advertising: With the use of e-commerce, one can do online shopping. Unlike the traditional model, customers need not go to the store, they can visit any website and find all the information regarding any product on the screen of their computer and place the order.
Online Banking: Online Banking means one can operate his or her account while sitting at their home. That is customer can manage their account from somewhere else. They need not go to a bank to manage their account.
Supply Chain Management: Supply Chain Management is a term that encompasses the coordination of various departments of a company. It includes order generation, order taking, order fulfillment, and distribution of products or services, or information.
Video on demand (display) (VOD) are systems that allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content when they choose to, rather than having to watch at a specific broadcast time. IPTV technology is often used to bring video on demand to televisions and personal computers.
Online Gaming: Online gaming can refer to any type of game that so through the Internet or over a computer network. Most of the time, it refers to played over the Internet, where multiple players are in different locations across the world.
E-Procurement: E-procurement is the business-to-business purchase and services over the Internet. Typically, e-procurement Web sites allow registered users to look for buyers or sellers of goods and services.

Public Policy and Technical Standards

These are the main components of the framework of e-commerce. By following all these be done efficiently on the network Public Policy and Technical Standards are to pillars for all e-commerce applications and infrastructure.

Public Policy: It is related to e-commerce encompasses such issues as universal privacy and information pricing. It should take into consideration of:
1. Cost of accessing information
2. Regulation to protect consumers from fraud and protect their right to privacy.
3. Policing global information traffic to detect information pirating and obscene sites.
Technical Standards: It dictates the specifics of information publishing tools, user interfaces, and transport. Standards are essential to ensure compatibility across the entire network of the world.

Elements of E-commerce Applications

All E-Commerce applications basically follow the client-server model. Clients are the machines requesting services and servers are machines providing services to the client. Basically, every E-Commerce application has four basic elements:

Consumer Access Devices
Multimedia Content
Network Service Provider
Information Delivery Servers

Multimedia Content: Multimedia content can be considered both fuel and traffic for electronic commerce applications. The technical definition of multimedia is the use of digital data in more than one format, such as the combination of text, audio, video, images, graphics, numerical data, holograms, and animations in a computer file/document. Multimedia is associated with Hardware components in different networks. The Accessing of multimedia content depends on the hardware capabilities of the customer.
Consumer Access Devices: Consumer access devices are client machines used for accessing the ecommerce applications. Some examples of consumer access devices are personal computers, mobile phones, PDAs (personal digital assistances), two-way televisions etc. Such televisions are equipped with devices called set-top boxes. Out of these access devices, interactive TV is considered as information access device of the future. The reason behind this is that almost all have a TV and everyone is far more comfortable with using a TV than a PC. Consumer access devices are used for entertainment on demand including video, games, news on-demand, electronic retailing via catalogs, etc.
Network Service Providers: Network is the backbone of E-Commerce. E-Commerce needs a network infrastructure to transport the contents. Such network infrastructure is provided by a combination of telecom networks, cable TV networks, wireless networks such as satellites, microwaves, private networks, etc. Basically, E-Commerce needs a high capacity (broadband) interactive (two-way) electronic pipeline for simultaneously supporting a large number of E-Commerce applications.
Information Delivery Servers: E-Commerce needs different servers to store and distribute large amounts of digital content to consumers. These servers capture, process, manage and deliver text, images, audio, and video. There may be a different server for providing services like game servers, multimedia servers, government servers, etc. These servers must be able to handle thousands of simultaneous users and are made up of high-end symmetric multiprocessors, clustered architecture, and massively parallel systems.

M-Commerce

M-commerce (mobile commerce) is the buying and selling of goods and services through wireless handheld devices such as cellular telephones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). This definition is not able to include all factors of modern M-Commerce.

A more generalized definition of M-Commerce can be given as Mobile Commerce is any transaction, involving the transfer of ownership or rights to use goods and services, which is initiated and/or completed by using mobile access to computer-mediated networks with the help of an electronic device. It is known as next-generation e-commerce.

M-commerce enables users to access the Internet without needing to find a place to plug in. As content delivery over wireless devices becomes faster, more secure, and scalable, there is wide speculation that m-commerce will go beyond wireline e-commerce as the method of choice for digital commerce transactions.

The industries affected by m-commerce include:

Financial Services, which includes mobile banking (when customers use their handheld devices to access their accounts and pay their bills) as well as brokerage services, in which stock quotes can be displayed and trading conducted from the same handheld device.
Telecommunications, in which service changes, bill payment, and account reviews can all be conducted from the same handheld device.
Service/retail, as consumers are given the ability to place and pay for orders on-the-fly
Information Services, which include the delivery of financial news, sports figures, and traffic updates to a single mobile device.

Features of Mobile Commerce

Mobile Commerce is characterized by some unique features that equip it with certain advantages against conventional forms of commercial transactions, including Electronic Commerce.

Ubiquity: Ubiquity means that the user can avail of services and carry out transactions largely independent of his current geographic location (anywhere features). This feature can be useful in many situations, e.g. to cross-check prices while standing in a supermarket.
Immediacy: It means real-time availability of services (anytime feature). This feature is particularly attractive for services that are time-critical and demand a fast reaction, e.g. stock market information for a broker. Additionally, the consumer can buy goods and services, as and when he feels the need. The immediacy of the transaction helps to capture consumers at the moment of intention so that sales are not lost in the discrepancy between the point of intention and that of the actual purchase.
Localization: Positioning technologies, such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), allow companies to offer goods and services to the user-specific to his current location. Location-based services can be, thus, offered to meet consumers' needs and wishes for localized content and services.
Instant connectivity: Ever since the introduction of the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) mobile devices are constantly online, i.e. in touch with the network (always-on feature).
Pro-active Functionality: Due to immediacy and localization features, new avenues for push marketing are created. Services like Opt-in advertising can be offered, so that a user may choose the products, services, and companies which he wants to be kept informed. The Short Message Service (SMS) can be used to send brief text messages to consumers informing them of relevant local offerings that best suit their needs. This feature ensures that the right (relevant) information can be provided to the user at the right place, at the right time.
Simple Authentication Procedure: Mobile telecommunication devices function with an electronic chip called Subscriber Identity Module (SIM). The SIM is registered with the network operator and the owner is thus unambiguously identifiable. The clear identification of the user in combination with an individual Personal Identification Number (PIN) makes any further time-consuming, complicated, and potentially inefficient authentication process needless.

These unique features of Mobile Commerce can provide the user with some concrete and specific advantages. These are:

Context-specific Services: Mobile Commerce makes it possible to offer location services, which are specific to a given context (e.g. time of the day, location, and interests of the user). Such services offer new opportunities for personalized pue marketing in close proximity to the vendor thereby increasing the probability of sales enhancing brand presence and thus encouraging consumers to remain loyal to brands they are acquainted with.
Time-critical Situations: The ubiquity and immediacy of Mobile Commerce allow users to perform urgent tasks in an efficient manner, e.g. fast reaction to stock marl developments irrespective of their current geographic location. It is also useful in emergency situations.
Spontaneous Decisions and Needs: Spontaneous needs are not externally triggered and generally involve decisions that do not require very careful consideration, e.g. purchase decisions involving small amounts of money. An example of such a service would be reserving a place in a restaurant or cinema spontaneously. Users may also be provided with access to entertainment content, e.g. horoscope, music, or sports news while on the move and with free time on hand.
Efficiency Increase: Mobile Commerce helps increase the productivity of the workforce by increasing the efficiency of their daily routines. Time-pressured consumers (employees) can use 'dead spots' in the day, e.g. during the daily travel to and from the workplace, more effectively.

Limitations of M-Commerce

Despite the fact that the use of M-Commerce is growing rapidly there is still a limitation that causes limited use of M-Commerce:

Bandwidth: The limited bandwidth that can be supported by mobile devices currently is very small which causes web developers to reduce the usage of rich data.
Screens Size: The screen size of a mobile device is very limited. This also limits the viewing capacity of the user.
Less Powerful Processors: Due to the slow processing speed web developer would have to use server-side scripting which will bring more load to the servers.
Cost of Wireless Connection: As wireless connection of a mobile device to the internet is still a relatively new technology the cost of using such a connection is also expensive as the technology is still under heavy development

Applications of M-Commerce

Mobile Banking: This application makes it possible to complete bank-related transactions, e.g. checking account status, transferring money, and selling stocks, mobile devices, independent of the current user location.
Mobile Entertainment: On the one hand, this application contains services that provide the user digital data with entertainment value on mobile devices, eg ringtones, music, and videos. On the other hand, it opens an array of interactive services, e.g. betting gaming, dating, and chatting.
Mobile Information Services: This term refers to mobile services that provide subscribers with the content of informational character. Examples of such services are news updates of any nature (finance, politics, sport, etc.), travel information, access to search engines, and Mobile Office (e-mails, appointments, etc.).
Mobile Marketing This term refers to services based on mobile communication technologies that provide firms with new, innovative instruments, e.g. to increase sales, win and retain customers, improve after-sales services, build and sustain a positive and modern image/brand and carry market research.
Mobile Shopping: This application bundles services that allow for mobile processing of transactions involving the purchase of goods for daily use. The user can purchase products by choosing them from a catalog accessible from a mobile device. The products need not be of a digital nature.
Mobile Ticketing: This application ensures that the user can purchase a right to utilization/entry (ticket) via a mobile device, replacing the conventional paper ticket. The ticket is sent in digital form to the mobile device.

E-Commerce Vs M-Commerce

The adjective electronic, used within the specific contexts of Electronic Business or Electronic Commerce, signifies an anytime access to business processes managed by computer-mediated networks. Furthermore, the access to such networks is, in this case, stationary. The services are, therefore, not available independent of the geographic location.

The adjective mobile, used within the specific contexts of Mobile Commerce or Mobile Business, signifies an anytime and anywhere access to business processes managed by computer-mediated networks. The access takes place using mobile communication networks, making the services independent of the geographic location of the user.

It would be useful to differentiate between the terms mobile and wireless. As opposed to the term mobile that signifies anytime, anywhere access to computer-mediated networks, wireless is just a method of communication between electronic devices, e.g. with the help of infrared interfaces. Every wireless device may not be suitable for feasible mobile applications. For example, Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) with a limited range of a maximum of 300 meters cannot support feasible mobile applications.

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