E-TAILING

• The Electronic Retailing also called as e-tailing or internet retailing, is the process of selling the goods and services through electronic media, particularly the internet.
• Simply, the sale of retail goods and services online is called as electronic retailing.
• It follows the B2C business model wherein the business interacts directly with the customers without the involvement of any intermediaries.

Direct Marketing by Mail-Order Companies

• In a broad sense, direct marketing describes marketing that takes place without physical stores.
• Direct marketers take orders directly from consumers, frequently bypassing traditional intermediaries. Sellers can be retailers or manufacturers.

Direct Sales by Manufacturers and Make-to-Order

• Many manufacturers are selling directly to customers. Dell, HP, and other computer manufacturers use this method.
• It is usually combined with self-confi guration of products (customized, build to order). 
• customers can configure and order cars online from manufacturers. The major success factor of this model is the ability to offer customized products at a reasonable cost.

Virtual (Pure-Play) E-Tailers

• Virtual (pure-play) e-tailers are companies with direct online sales that do not need physical stores. Amazon.com is a prime example of this type of e-tailer.
• Virtual e-tailers have the advantage of low fixed costs.
• However, one drawback can be a lack of an efficient order fulfillment system. Virtual etailers can be general-purpose (such as Amazon.com, or Buy.com) or specialized e-tailers (such as Dogtoys.com).

Click-and-Mortar Retailers and Multi-channeling

• This is probably the most commonly used model of e-tailing competing with pure play e-tailers.
• Examples are Walmart.com, Target.com, and thousands of other retailers that offer products and services online as an additional sales channel. This strategy is gaining momentum, but it is not always successful for large companies.

• A click-and-mortar retailer is a combination of both the traditional retailer and a webstore.
• A brick-and-mortar retailer conducts business exclusively in the physical world.

Flash Deals (Deals of the Day)

• These are sales in which companies offer heavily discounted products to consumers for a limited time (usually 24–72 hours), directly or via intermediaries such as Groupon.
• The discounts are so large that the sellers hope that people will spread the news to their friends.

E-Learning

E-Learning
• eLearning is learning utilizing electronic technologies to access educational curriculum outside of a traditional classroom.  In most cases, it refers to a course, program or degree delivered completely online.
• There are many terms used to describe learning that is delivered online, via the internet, ranging from Distance Education, to computerized electronic learning, online learning, internet learning and many others.
• We define eLearning as courses that are specifically delivered via the internet to somewhere other than the classroom where the professor is teaching.
• It is not a course delivered via a DVD or CD-ROM, video tape or over a television channel. It is interactive in that you can also communicate with your teachers, professors or other students in your class.
• Sometimes it is delivered live, where you can “electronically” raise your hand and interact in real time and sometimes it is a lecture that has been prerecorded.
• There is always a teacher or professor interacting /communicating with you and grading your participation, your assignments and your tests.
• eLearning has been proven to be a successful method of training and education is becoming a way of life for many citizens in North Carolina.

EXAMPLES: Byju’s ,khan academy, topper
Benefits of e learning:
• Education.
• Learning and training time reduction.
• Cost reduction
• Large number and diversity of learners
• Innovative teaching
• Self-paced and motivation learning. 

E-PAYMENT

 E-Payment
E-commerce sites use electronic payment, where electronic payment refers to paperless monetary transactions. Electronic payment has revolutionized the business processing by reducing the paperwork, transaction costs, and labor cost. Being user friendly and less time-consuming than manual processing, it helps business organization to expand its market reach/expansion. Listed below are some of the modes of electronic payments −
• Credit Card
• Debit Card
• Smart Card
• E-Money
• Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT)
Credit Card
Payment using credit card is one of most common mode of electronic payment. Credit card is small plastic card with a unique number attached with an account. It has also a magnetic strip embedded in it which is used to read credit card via card readers. When a customer purchases a product via credit card, credit card issuer bank pays on behalf of the customer and customer has a certain time period after which he/she can pay the credit card bill. It is usually credit card monthly payment cycle. Following are the actors in the credit card system.
• The card holder − Customer
• The merchant − seller of product who can accept credit card payments.
• The card issuer bank − card holder's bank
• The acquirer bank − the merchant's bank
• The card brand − for example , visa or Mastercard.


Credit Card Payment Proces

Step	Description
Step 1	Bank issues and activates a credit card to the customer on his/her request.
Step 2	The customer presents the credit card information to the merchant site or to the merchant from whom he/she wants to purchase a product/service.
Step 3	Merchant validates the customer's identity by asking for approval from the card brand company.
Step 4	Card brand company authenticates the credit card and pays the transaction by credit. Merchant keeps the sales slip.
Step 5	Merchant submits the sales slip to acquirer banks and gets the service charges paid to him/her.
Step 6	Acquirer bank requests the card brand company to clear the credit amount and gets the payment.
Step 6	Now the card brand company asks to clear the amount from the issuer bank and the amount gets transferred to the card brand company.

Debit Card
Debit card, like credit card, is a small plastic card with a unique number mapped with the bank account number. It is required to have a bank account before getting a debit card from the bank. The major difference between a debit card and a credit card is that in case of payment through debit card, the amount gets deducted from the card's bank account immediately and there should be sufficient balance in the bank account for the transaction to get completed; whereas in case of a credit card transaction, there is no such compulsion.
Debit cards free the customer to carry cash and cheques. Even merchants accept a debit card readily. Having a restriction on the amount that can be withdrawn in a day using a debit card helps the customer to keep a check on his/her spending.
Smart Card
Smart card is again similar to a credit card or a debit card in appearance, but it has a small microprocessor chip embedded in it. It has the capacity to store a customer’s work-related and/or personal information. Smart cards are also used to store money and the amount gets deducted after every transaction.
Smart cards can only be accessed using a PIN that every customer is assigned with. Smart cards are secure, as they store information in encrypted format and are less expensive/provides faster processing. Mondex and Visa Cash cards are examples of smart cards.
E-Money
E-Money transactions refer to situation where payment is done over the network and the amount gets transferred from one financial body to another financial body without any involvement of a middleman. E-money transactions are faster, convenient, and saves a lot of time.
Online payments done via credit cards, debit cards, or smart cards are examples of emoney transactions. Another popular example is e-cash. In case of e-cash, both customer and merchant have to sign up with the bank or company issuing e-cash.
Electronic Fund Transfer
It is a very popular electronic payment method to transfer money from one bank account to another bank account. Accounts can be in the same bank or different banks. Fund transfer can be done using ATM (Automated Teller Machine) or using a computer.
Nowadays, internet-based EFT is getting popular. In this case, a customer uses the website provided by the bank, logs in to the bank's website and registers another bank account. He/she then places a request to transfer certain amount to that account. Customer's bank transfers the amount to other account if it is in the same bank, otherwise the transfer request is forwarded to an ACH (Automated Clearing House) to transfer the amount to other account and the amount is deducted from the customer's account. Once the amount is transferred to other account, the customer is notified of the fund transfer by the bank.
How do electronic payment systems work?
• The cardholder is identified as the consumer who purchases a product or service online.
• The merchant is the person or business that sells the product or service to the cardholder.
• The issuer is the financial institution that provides the cardholder with the payment card. This is usually the cardholder’s bank.
• The acquirer, or merchant account provider, is the financial institution that establishes an account with the merchant. The acquirer authorizes the legitimacy of the cardholder account.
• The payments processor handles the official transaction between the cardholder and merchant.
• The payment gateway processes merchant payment messages and uses security protocols and encryptions to ensure transaction safety.


What Is a Payment Gateway?
A payment gateway is an e-commerce application that authorizes payments for e-businesses, online retailers, bricks and clicks, or traditional brick and mortar businesses. It is the virtual equivalent of a physical point of sale terminal located in most retail outlets. Payment gateways encrypt sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, to ensure that information passes securely between the customer and the merchant.
1. Hosted payment gateways
Hosted payment gateways direct your customer away from your site’s checkout page. When the customer clicks the gateway link, they are redirected to the Payment Service Provider (PSP) page. Here, the customer fills in his or her payment details, and after paying, is redirected back to your website to complete the checkout process. The most well-known example of a hosted payment gateway is PayPal.


2. Self-hosted payment gateways
With this type of gateway, payment details are collected from the customer within the merchant’s website. After the details are requested, the collected data is sent to the payment gateway’s URL. Some gateways require the payment data be provided in a specific format, whereas others require a hash key or secret key. TradeGecko Payments and Shopify Payments are examples of self-hosted payment gateways, and both are powered by Stripe.


3. API hosted payment gateways
With API hosted payment gateways, customers enter their credit or debit card information directly on the merchant’s checkout page and payments are processed using an API (Application Programming Interface) or HTTPS queries.
4. Local bank integration
Local bank integration gateways redirect the customer to the payment gateway’s website (the bank’s website) where they enter their payment details and contact details. After making the payment, the customer is redirected back to the merchant website, with payment notification data sent upon redirection.


Micropayments  or  e-micropayments  are small online payments made online, usually under $10.From the viewpoint of many vendors, credit cards are too expensive for processing small payments.
The same is true for debit cards, where the fixed transaction fees are greater, even though there are no percentage charges. These fees are relatively small (in percentage) only for card purchases over $10. Regardless of the vendor’s point of view, there
is substantial evidence, at least in the offl ine world,
that consumers are willing to use their credit or
debit cards for small value purchases. In the online
world, the evidence suggests that consumers are
interested in making small- value purchases, but not
with credit or debit card payments. For example, as
noted in the opening case


electronic check (e-check)  is the
electronic clone of a paper check (containing the
same information). E-checks are a legal payment
method in many countries. They work in a process
similar to that of a paper check, but their processing
is more effi cient because several steps are automated.
With an online e-check purchase, the buyer simply provides
the merchant with his or her account number, the nine-digit bank ABA routing number,the bank account type (e.g., checking, savings,etc.), the name of the account holder,and theamount to be paid. The account number and routing
number are provided as magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) numbers and characters.


Payment methods in B2B EC:
1. Pay by Purchase Order
It is relatively common for business customers to “pay” via a purchase order. The challenge for the seller is to have precautions in place to ensure that only approved customers can use purchase orders, for preset credit limits. There are ways to make this work.
First, require potential customers to fill out an application that is reviewed by your customer service team. Merchants sometimes allow the prospects to place orders via credit card before their application is reviewed.
Next, enable approved businesses to place orders via purchase order.  Do this by logging into your ecommerce platform and indicate that approval and the credit limit. Alternatively, send the approval and credit amount to your ecommerce platform via an integration with your accounting or backend software. That integration can allow the ecommerce platform to track offline orders and factor those into the available credit balance.
2. Online Credit Management
For customers with extended payment terms, you may consider online credit management services, such as Apruve. This enables real-time credit approval for new customers and the merchant is paid within 24 hours of a shipment, minus financing fees.
This can help customers, too, as it allows multiple buyers within their organization to place orders, which are then lumped into a single invoice that is due on the 15th of the following month, or whatever payment terms are agreed to with the credit management service.
Thus an online credit management service can simplify your customer’s experience, and allow your company to get paid faster.
3. Procurement Punchout
Business customers typically have a purchasing department and may use software as a part of their purchasing workflow. You can make it easier to buy from you by integrating your ecommerce site with their procurement software. This is called a procurement punchout.
For sellers, there are two general approaches to this: Integrate with each different procurement software — such as Ariba, SciQuest, Coupa, SAP, Oracle — or integrate with a facilitator, such as PunchOut2Go, that provides a single integration point and enables you to offer a punchout to over 60 procurement software applications. (My company, I should add, is a reseller of Punchout2Go.)
Using a punchout, your buyer can start on your website and fill up his shopping cart. Once he is ready to place the order, he can “punch out” and send the data from the cart to his procurement system. The punchout solution can end there, or it can continue so that when the purchasing department approves the order, the purchase order is electronically transmitted back to your ecommerce site. An additional integration could electronically send your invoice to buyer’s system after the order has shipped.
In my experience, some business buyers require their suppliers to offer punchouts. Beyond that, some B2B sellers offer punchout solutions to entice larger customers or new customer segments.
4. ACH, e-Check
ACH and e-check payments are electronically withdrawn from the buyer’s checking account, transferred over an ACH network, and deposited into the seller’s checking account. You can configure your ecommerce platform to allow customers to pay via e-check or ACH. If you go this route, make sure the money is immediately available, without recourse, before shipping the order.
5. Credit Cards
In B2B ecommerce, the use of credit cards can be complex. The most common area of complexity occurs when the order costs are more than what was authorized during checkout. This is common in B2B, when shipping charges are unknown in checkout, and when customers can edit orders after they are first submitted.
In both of these instances, merchants typically involve a developer. The customizations include making additional API calls to the credit card gateway for additional authorizations against the customer’s credit card.
Regardless, make sure to use a processor that will store the credit card data without it residing in your system. This is important for security, and liability.


What is an electronic billing system?
Electronic billing systems are computer systems that assist with generating and delivering invoices and accepting customer payments. The flow of an invoice through an electronic billing system typically follows this path:


1. Customer billing data is aggregated in a billing system
2. Customer bill is generated by billing system
3. Billing is passed to electronic billing system
4. Bills are aggregated and sent to customer online
5. Customer receives new bill notification email


There are two main types of electronic billing systems used for eBilling: biller-direct systems and bank-aggregator systems.
As already noted, most utility companies allow customers to log in to the utility website to view and pay bills. This is an example of biller-direct electronic billing.
Some bills can be integrated into a bank’s bill pay system. In this case, users can log in to their bank website and pay bills for several billers through the same interface. This is an example of bank-aggregator systems.
Biller-direct and bank-aggregator are also known as electronic billing formats.
What is the difference between eBilling and eInvoicing?
eBilling and eInvoicing have many similar aspects, but are not entirely the same thing. eInvoicing is simply sending invoices digitally, but the payment feature is not integrated as it is with eBilling.
QuickBooks invoicing is an example of eInvoicing, as users can quickly send invoices by email but payment features are not automatically integrated.
True eBilling also includes the ability to pay as well. All-in one billing & payment tools are also known as AP automation software. On a utility or bank website, you can both view the invoice and submit an electronic payment. The process for businesses typically requires more advanced software than what a traditional bank offers.

M-COMMERCE / MOBILE MARKETING

M-commerce

• (mobile commerce) is the buying and selling of goods and services through wireless handheld devices such as smartphones and tablets.
• As a form of e-commerce, m-commerce enables users to access online shopping platforms without needing to use a desktop computer.
• Examples of m-commerce include  in-app purchasing, mobile banking, virtual marketplace apps like the Amazon mobile app or a digital wallet such as Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay. 

Eg; Financial services(broking firms), Telecommunications(bill payment)

Mobile Marketing

• Mobile marketing is a multi-channel, digital marketing strategy aimed at reaching a target audience on their smartphones, tablets, and/or other mobile devices, via websites, email, SMS and MMS, social media, and apps.
• Eg; (Email marketing,Ad. Banner,Search Engine Optimization,Blogs, Social media adv.)
• Mobile is disrupting the way people engage with brands. Everything that can be done on a desktop computer is now available on a mobile device. From opening an email to visiting your website to reading your content, it's all accessible through a small mobile screen. Consider:

• 80% of internet users own a smartphone.
• Mobile platforms, such as smartphones and tablets, host up to 60% of digital media time for users in the U.S.
• Google anticipates search queries on mobile devices to surpass desktop searches by the end of 2015.

Effective mobile advertising means understanding your mobile audience, designing content with mobile platforms in mind, and making strategic use of SMS/MMS marketing and mobile apps.

E-COMMERCE BUSINESS MODELS

Business - to - Business

A website following the B2B business model sells its products to an intermediate buyer who then sells the product to the final customer. As an example, a wholesaler places an order from a company's website and after receiving the consignment, sells the endproduct to the final customer who comes to buy the product at one of its retail outlets.

Types

1. Sell-side. One seller to many buyers.
2. Buy-side. One buyer from many sellers.
3. Intermediatory. Many sellers to many buyers through intermediatory platform

Business - to - Consumer

A website following the B2C business model sells its products directly to a customer. A customer can view the products shown on the website. The customer can choose a product and order the same. The website will then send a notification to the business organization via email and the organization will dispatch the product/goods to the customer.

Consumer - to - Consumer

A website following the C2C business model helps consumers to sell their assets like residential property, cars, motorcycles, etc., or rent a room by publishing their information on the website. Website may or may not charge the consumer for its services. Another consumer may opt to buy the product of the first customer by viewing the post/advertisement on the website.

Consumer - to - Business

In this model, a consumer approaches a website showing multiple business organizations for a particular service. The consumer places an estimate of amount he/she wants to spend for a particular service. For example, the comparison of interest rates of personal loan/car loan provided by various banks via websites. A business organization who fulfills the consumer's requirement within the specified budget, approaches the customer and provides its services.

Business - to - Government

B2G model is a variant of B2B model. Such websites are used by governments to trade and exchange information with various business organizations. Such websites are accredited by the government and provide a medium to businesses to submit application forms to the government.

Government - to - Business

Governments use B2G model websites to approach business organizations. Such websites support auctions, tenders, and application submission functionalities.

Government - to - Citizen

Governments use G2C model websites to approach citizen in general. Such websites support auctions of vehicles, machinery, or any other material. Such website also provides services like registration for birth, marriage or death certificates. The main objective of G2C websites is to reduce the average time for fulfilling citizen’s requests for various government services.

Company Examples

B2B firms: Indiamart, Alibaba, cisco

B2C: Flipcart, Snapdeal.

C2C: OLX, QUIKR

C2B : pricelane.com, policybazar.com

Electronic tendering systems.
Large organizational buyers usually make large-volume or large-value purchases through a tendering (bidding) system, also known as a reverse auction . Such tendering can be done online, saving time and money.

Viral marketing.
According to the viral marketing model  , people use e-mail and social networks to spread word-of-
mouth advertising. It is basically Web-based word-of- mouth advertising, and is popular in social networks

Group purchasing
Group purchasing is a well-known  method, both in B2C and B2B. It is based on the concept of quantity discounts (“cheaper by the dozen”). The Internet model allows individuals to get together, so they can gain the large-quantity advantage.

Brokerage: Market makers that charges fee
for their services.

Advertising: Websites that provide content
and charge advertisers for related ads.

Infomediary: Provide information and/or
infrastructure that help buyers and/or sellers
and charge for their services.

Merchant: Retailers (such as Walmart or
Amazon): These buy the products and sell
them at profit.

Direct model: Sell without intermediaries.

Affiliate: Paying website owners to place banners.
Share fees received from advertisers.

Community: A social media-based model that
utilizes Web 2.0 tools, social networks, and
the characteristics.

https://www.tutorialspoint.com

E-AUCTION, E-BARTERING

An online auction is an electronic space where sellers and buyers meet and conduct different types of transactions.

This market mechanism uses a competitive process where a seller solicits

consecutive bids from buyers (forward e- auctions) or a buyer solicits bids from sellers (reverse e-auctions).

Dynamic Pricing

• One major characteristic of auctions is that they are based on dynamic pricing. Dynamic pricing refers to prices that are not fixed, but are allowed to fluctuate, and are determined by supply and demand. In contrast, catalog prices are fixed, as are prices in department stores, supermarkets, and most webstores.

Traditional Auctions Versus E-Auctions

Traditional, physical auctions are still very popular. However, the volume traded on e-auctions is significantly larger and continues to increase.

In addition, person-to-person auctions are done mostly online.

Limitations of Traditional Offline Auctions

• Traditional offline auctions usually last only a few minutes, or even seconds, for each

item sold. This rapid process may give potential buyers little time to make a decision, so they may decide not to bid. Therefore, sellers may not get the highest possible price; bidders may not get what they really want, or they may pay too much

for the items.

• Bidders must usually be physically present at auctions thus, many potential bidders are excluded.
• Similarly, it may be diffiult for sellers to move goods to an auction site. Commissions are fairly high because a physical location must be rented, the auction needs to be advertised, and an auctioneer and other employees need to be paid.

Electronic auctioning removes these drawbacks.

Electronic Auctions

• The Internet provides an infrastructure for executing auctions electronically at lower cost, with a wide array of support services, and with many more participating sellers and buyers than physical auctions.
• Individual consumers and corporations both can participate in this rapidly growing and very convenient form of e-commerce.

Types of auction

One Buyer, One Seller

• In this confi guration, one can use negotiation, bargaining, or bartering.
• The resulting price will be determined by each party’s bargaining power, supply and demand in the item’s market, and (possibly) business environment factors.

One Seller, Many Potential Buyers

• In this confi guration, the seller uses a forward auction , which is an auction where a seller entertains bids from multiple buyers. (Because forward auctions are the most common and traditional form, they often are simply called auctions .)

Many Sellers, Many Buyers

• When there are many sellers and many buyers, buyers and their bidding prices are matched with sellers and their asking prices based on the quantities on both sides.
• Stocks and commodities markets are typical examples of this configuration. .

One Buyer, Many Potential Sellers

Two popular types of auctions in which there is one buyer and many potential sellers are

1. Reverse auctions (tendering) and
2. name-your-own-price auctions.

Reverse Auctions

• When there is one buyer and many potential sellers, a reverse auction (bidding or tenderingsystem) is in place.
• In a reverse auction, the buyer places an item he or she wants to buy for a bid (or tender ) on a request for quote (RFQ) system.
• Potential suppliers bid on the item, reducing the price sequentially. Several rounds of

bidding may take place until the bidders do not reduce the price any further. The winning supplier is the one with the lowest bid

The Name-Your-Own-Price Model

• Priceline.com pioneered the name-your-own-price model .
• In this model, a would-be buyer specifies the price (and other terms) that he or she is willing to pay to any willing and able seller.

Online Bartering

• Bartering , the exchange of goods and services, is the oldest method of trade. Today, it is done primarily between organizations. The problem with bartering is that it is difficult to match trading partners.
• E-bartering (electronic bartering) – bartering conducted online – can improve the matching process by attracting more partners to the barter.
• In addition, matching can be done faster, and better matches can be found.
• Items that are frequently bartered online include office space, storage, and factory space; unused facilities; and labor, products, and banner ads.

Online Negotiating

• Dynamic prices also can be determined by negotiation .

ONLINE MARKETPLACE

Value Proposition

• Business models also include a value-proposition statement.
•  A value proposition refers to the benefits, including the intangible ones that a company hopes to derive from using its business model.
• In B2C EC, for example, the customer value proposition defines how a company’s product or service fulfills the needs of customers.
• In other words, it describes the total benefits to the customer. The value proposition is an important part of the marketing plan of any product or service.

ONLINE MARKETPLACE

• An online marketplace, sometimes called an electronic marketplace, is an e-commerce site where third-party companies can sell their products or services to consumers.
• All of the transactions are processed through the website owner.
• For example, when you visit Amazon's online market, you can purchase books and other goods directly from Amazon, but you can also find - and buy - products from sellers all over the world.
• Another example is sharing economy platforms, like eBay and Etsy, where sellers ''share'' in the space to make profits, bring together all types of independent sellers into a one-stop shop that is convenient for consumers to not only check prices for the best deals, but do so all under one electronic roof.

Types of E-Marketplaces

We distinguish two types of e- marketplaces: private and public.

Private E-Marketplaces

• Private e-marketplaces are those owned and operated by a single company. starbucks.com , dell.com , target.com , and united.com sell from their websites.
• Private markets are either sell-side or buy-side. In a sell-side e-marketplace , a company, (e.g., net-a-porter.com or cisco.com ) will sell either standard or customized products to individuals (B2C) or to businesses (B2B); this type of selling is considered to be one-to-many .
• In a buy-side e-marketplace, a company purchases from many potential suppliers; this type of purchasing is considered to be many-to-one , and it is a B2B activity.
• For example, some hotels buy their supplies from approved vendors that come to its e-market. Walmart ( walmart.com ) buys goods from thousands of suppliers. Private marketplaces can be open only to selected members and are not publicly regulated.

Public E-Marketplaces

• Public e-marketplaces are in many cases B2B markets. They often are owned by a third party (not a seller or a buyer) or by a group of buying or selling companies (referred to as a consortium ), and they serve many sellers and many buyers.
• These markets also are known as exchanges (e.g., a stock exchange). They are open to the public and usually are regulated by the government or the exchange’s owners. 

Customer Interaction Mechanisms

Several kinds of interactions exist among sellers, buyers, and e-marketplaces. The major B2C mechanisms are

• webstores ( storefronts)
• Internet malls

Webstores

• A webstore ( or storefront) refers to a single company’s (or individual seller’s) website where products and services are sold Webstores may target an industry, a location, or a niche market (e.g., cattoys.com ).
• The webstore may belong to a manufacturer (e.g., geappliances.com and dell.com ), to a retailer (e.g., amazon.com and wishlist.com.au ), to individuals selling from home, or to another type of business.

Note : that companies that sell services (such as insurance) may refer to their webstores as portals .

• A webstore includes tools known as merchant software (available in a suite), that are necessary for conducting online sales. The most common tools are an
• Electronic catalog ; a search engine that helps the consumer find products in the catalog;
• an electronic shopping cart for holding items until checkout;
• e-auction facilities where auctions take place;
• a payment gateway where payment arrangements can be made;
• a shipment center where shipping arrangements are made;
• customer services , which include product and warranty information and CRM.

Microsites

• A microsite is a webpage(s) that acts as a supplement to a primary website, but is external to it. It expands on the content by adding editorial, commercial, or educational material.

Electronic Malls

• In addition to shopping at individual webstores, consumers can shop in electronic malls (e-malls). Similar to malls in the physical world, an e-mall (online mall) is an online shopping location where many stores present their catalogs.
• The mall charges commission from the sellers based on their sale volume.
• For example, E Mall of Maine( emallofmaine.com ) is an e-mall that aggregates products, services, and providers in the state of Maine. It contains a directory of vacation services and product categories and the vendors in each category.
• When a consumer indicates the category he or she is interested in, the consumer is transferred to the appropriate independent webstore .
• This kind of mall does not provide any shared services; it is merely a directory. Other malls, such as choicemall.com , or etsy.com
• Webstores, Malls, and Portals provide some shared services. Both yahoo.com and ebay.com operate electronic malls.