E-business includes buying and selling products and services online, buying wholesale products or provisions for in-house production. E-business reaches a larger chunk of the population through internet. This function of E-business is referred to as ecommerce, and the terms are rarely interchanged.

There are different types of business transactions carried out in E-commerce like,

1. Business to business e-commerce –

Business transactions carried out amongst businesses/companies over secure network is known as business to business e-commerce.

Business to business e-commerce helps businesses in various ways:

a.Most of the businesses use this e-commerce application to attain a quicker, fault free business dealings, to manage and retain inventories, etc.

b.This application brings about a change and makes the normal day to day business procedures within a company simpler and easier.

c.Enhances business dealings with other companies.

2. Business to consumer e-commerce –

This application helps the consumers to deal directly with the companies through the help of internet technologies. For e.g. online shopping. Various sites are good examples of business to consumer e-commerce transactions like Marks and Spencer online shopping, Hallmark.com, etc

Business to consumer application of e-commerce has emerged at a faster rate and is preferred by most of the masses around the globe. This application of e-commerce allows them to shop at their ease without facing the hassles of shopping one generally faces.

3. Consumer to business e-commerce-

This is a rare kind of e-commerce which is been practiced occasionally. This type of application allows the customer to place ads on the net regarding their requirements which are then followed up by various companies. Here the companies contact the consumers.

The rate at which ecommerce had progressed with the help of internet technologies is depicted by this application.

4. Consumer to consumer e-commerce-

Consumers to consumer e-commerce (transactions) have been in use for quite some time. This is nothing but the normal newspaper classifieds which would help the consumer in renting a place or buying some household stuff etc. However with the advent of internet these transactions are done online at a faster pace and lower costs.

There are different types of upcoming business transactions in ecommerce like business to government ecommerce consumer to government ecommerce.

E-commerce is the effect of revolution in internet technologies. E-commerce is widely used for conducting business transactions online like buying selling, placing ads etc.

Before figuring out how to have your own e-commerce site it is essential to know what all is needed

1. Having your website – where people can go through your products and choose them.

2. Payment gateway- the method through which you will be paid and

3. Registering a domain – name for your site on the net

4. Finding a web hosting company- to host your website on the net

These requirements have been explained in details below;

1.Having your own e-commerce site:

There are two ways to go about having your own e-commerce website site

a.Customized solutions or

b.Store front solutions.

a.Customized solutions:

In this you will be developing your own site. You will handle your product database, catalogue, payment gateway and domain.

To have your own customized site you will require a competent team of developers and designers.

Having a customized site is costly which the only disadvantage is. The advantageous are that you will always have a control on your site, can make changes according to your wishes, can expand your site etc.

b.Store front solutions:

Now if you wish to save yourself from the headache of building an entire site you can go for the various store front solutions like StoreFront.net, YahooStore, Bigstep etc. Here you will only have to add your product database. Other all requirements like domain hosting, payment gateway, shopping cart, order process etc will be provided by these solutions.

2.Payment gateway:

Payment gateway is a path through which customers will pay for the goods they buy from your site. If you have a customized web site then you need to integrate the payment gateway in your site. Store front solutions provide you with their own payment gateways.

You can set up a payment gateway on your site through following techniques.

a.Setting up a merchants account:

The merchant or the site owner has to open an account with a bank where all the charges paid by the customers through credit cards will be deposited. In case of e-commerce sites, banks specifically open a merchant account through some of the financial institution like SBI etc.

b.Payment gateway :

Various payment gateways are available like Pay Pal or Verisign etc. Most of the e-commerce sites prefer to have e-commerce sites as they provide more security for the use of credit card online. You have to get the SSL certifications installed in your site as they give you more integrity, authentication and confidentiality to your customers to use their credit cards. This way you can protect your customer’s financial information from misuse.

3.Registering your domain:

It is very essential to get a name to your business it can be www.business.com .You have to get the name registered so no other e-commerce site can use your name.

4.Web hosting company:

After you are done with setting up your e-commerce web site you have to look for a good web hosting company. These companies will help you in hosting your site on the net enabling people to view your site and place their orders. We already have an article on our site ‘Which web hosting company is good for you? ‘which will give you an in-depth information on how to choose the right web hosting company for your site.

However you need to do your homework before you can have your own e-commerce site. We have an upcoming article ‘Ask the right questions for your E-business’ where the readers will get an idea of how to plan for your E-business.

1.Conducting a market survey

2.Project report

3.Software applications required

4.Designs for the site

5.Content development

6.Testing

7.Target population

Pegasus InfoCorp Pvt. Ltd. has been developing E-commerce sites for prominent clients across the globe. Go through our web site to see our portfolio.

This article has been compiled by the content development team at Pegasus InfoCorp which pulls subject matter specialists from different work domains. They can be contacted through the Pegasus InfoCorp website at info@pegasusinfocorp.com. Pegasus InfoCorp is an India based web design, web development and online/ offline software development company. Please visit http://www.pegasusinfocorp.com to read more articles and know more about us!

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