Understanding E-Commerce

Abstract

Defines e-commerce and then explains (1) how e-commerce can reduce transaction costs; (2) the operating models for firms in digital space; and (3) how regulations distort the operating models of e-commerce firms. E-commerce encompasses doing business over the internet, selling goods and services online and then delivering offline or digitizing and delivering online. The most common transactions can remain broadly classified into online travel and nontravel, with nontravel featuring online retail (e-tailing), utilities, and other services. The benefits of e-commerce come through a reduction in transaction costs, both contracting and payment costs through secure online processes and transport and delivery costs for consumers. Various digital trade models exist, including business-to-government (B2G); business-to-business (B2B); business-to-consumer (B2C); and consumer-to-consumer transactions. Each model has its own advantages, which determine a firm’s choice on the basis of its characteristics, and restrictions on payment methods and foreign exchange controls can substantially impact the strategic choices of private sector players.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 11 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.