Reader

1.

There are many types of EC business models. The five common models are online direct marketing, electronic tendering systems, electronic marketplaces and exchanges, viral marketing and group purchasing.

The first model is online direct marketing. Its most obvious model is selling products and services online. That sales maybe directly from a manufacturer to a customer or from retailers to consumers makes distribution more efficient. It is practiced in B2C and in some B2B types of EC.

In electronic tendering systems, large organizational buyers, private or public, usually make large volume or large value purchases through a tendering system. Such tendering can be done online, saving time and money.

The third one is electronic market place and exchanges. Electronic marketplaces existed in isolated applications for decades (e.g stock and commodity exchanges). But as of 1996 hundreds of e-marketplaces (old and new) have introduced new methods and efficiencies to the trading process. If they are well organized and managed. E-marketplaces can provide significant profit to both buyers and sellers. Of special interest are vertical marketplaces that concentrate on one industry.

The fourth model is viral marketing model. According to the viral marketing model, people use email and social networks for spreading word-of-mouth-advertising. Thus, an organization can increase brand awareness or even generate sales by inducing people to send influencing message to other people or to recruit friends to join certain programs. It is basically Web-based word-of-mouth advertising, and it is popular in social networks.

Last but not least, group purchasing is a well-known offline method, especially for companies. It is base on the concept of quantity discount (“ cheaper-by-the-dozen”).The Internet model allow individual to get together, so they can gain the large-quantity advantage.

2.

The major place for conducting EC transactions is the electronic market (e-market)....