E-Commerce and Data Science

E-commerce is largely and exercise in understanding the clients

  • containing their capabilities, desires, etc.
  • matching clients with technologies and goals
  • exploring scalability
  • chanllenges of new markets

E-Commerce vs E-Business

E-commerce

  • definition
    • usually
      • use of internet and/or web to transact business
    • generally
      • refer to any networked commerce activity
    • formally
      • digitally enabled commercial transactions between and among organizations and individuals
  • traditional e-commerce
    • features
      • passive consumer
      • sales-force driven
      • fixed prices
      • information asymmetry
  • current e-commerce
    • reason of importance
      • e-commerce technology is different, more powerful than previous technologies
      • e-commerce bringing fundamental changes to commerce
    • features
      • ubiquity
      • global reach
      • universal standards
      • information richness
      • interactivity
      • information density
      • personalization/customization
      • social technology
    • trends
      • new business models based on social technologies, consumer-generated content, and services (e.g., innovative payment systems)
      • broadband and wireless access continue to grow
      • mobile e-commerce is booming
      • traditional media losing subscribers
      • e-commerce has traditionally been early adopters (and influencers) of new technologies
      • local-based, augmented reality (AR) and AI technologies & applications now beginning to mature
    • types
      • classified by market relationship
      • classified by technology used
        • peer-to-peer (P2P)
        • mobile commerce (m-commerce)
        • online-to-offline (O2O)
  • organizing themes and trends
    • technology
      • development and mastery of digital computing and communications technology
      • mobile platform has made mobile e-commerce reality and affordable smartphones plus 5G will make more impact
    • business
      • new technologies present businesses with new ways of organizing production and transacting business
      • all forms of e-commerce show very strong growth and Covid-19 amplifies this
    • society
      • intellectual property, individual privacy, public welfare policy
      • increased online social interaction and sharing, but we begin to see the negative impacts of social media
  • relevant academic disciplines
    • technical approach
      • computer science
      • management science
      • information systems
      • electrical & electronic engineering
    • behavioral approach
      • information systems
      • economics
      • marketing
      • management
      • finance/accounting
      • sociology

E-business

  • digital enablement of transactions and processes within a firm, involving information systems under firm’s control
  • does not include commercial transactions involving an exchange of value across organizational boundaries

Potential Limitations and Predictions for the Future

Potential limitations on the growth of B2C e-commerce

  • expensive technology
  • sophisticated skill set
  • persistent cultural attraction of physical markets and traditional shopping experiences
  • persistent global inequality limiting access to telephones and computers
  • saturation and ceiling effects
  • de-globalization and trade war

Predictions/questions/challenges for the future

  • technology will propagate through all commercial activity
  • prices will rise to cover the real cost of doing business
  • e-commerce margins and profits will rise to levels more typical of all retailers
  • cast of players will change
    • traditional fortune 500 companies will play dominant role
    • new startup ventures will emerge with new products, services
  • number of successful pure online stores will remain smaller than integrated offline/online stores
  • growth of regulatory activity worldwide
  • influence of cost of energy

Additional Reading