e commerce

Online shopping

advantages

disadvantages

·         Convenience ·         Transport csts ·         Wider access ·         Wider range ·         24 hour shopping ·         Cheaper ( business don’t need to hire as many staff for stores) ·         Cheaper ( customers can get special deals and special offers) ·         No retail staff ( many people find these irritating) ·         Reviews ( different customers opinions) ·         Don’t have to pay it all off at once

·         No socialising ·         Delivery times and charges ·         Security ( the lack of it ) ·         Cant try things on ,  lack of physical contact ·         You need to know what your doing ·         Scams ·         Refunds ·         Product substitution

A year after the web had initially been created in 1990 the web opened for commercial use. Online banking and early retail services then began to arise in 1994 with sites such as pizza hut making appearances.

Now days’ online shopping, although not as big as normal shopping, still plays an important roll in today’s world. Many people like to use online shopping for the general convenience of the service.  These include things such as not having to go to collect your purchase and the wider range of stock available in online stores.

Security

There are however still issues with online shopping, with the key one of these being the security within transactions. Many people will choose not to use phone shopping as there is an increased risk  of there bank details been obtained by an unwanted party who will then use it to gain access to the funds in your bank.  This is only really an issue to the user when debit cards are concerned, credit cards on the other hand operate using the banks money, and thus it’s a problem related directly to the bank. There are special secure sites, denoted by “https” that prevent any information being displaced for safer transactions and their high levels of security ensure that hacking is virtually impossible. The most common site for secure transactions is paypal which takes hold of your money and waits until the good have been sent before the money is sent instantly into the sellers account. Paypal also offers the option to hold a certain amount of money ( denoted by the account holder) much like a bank until you choose to use this capital on a transaction.

Amazon

Amazon is an online shopping service well known on the market for their extensive range of books.  One reason for the key to this success is infact because books are the most purchased item on the web, this is due to the fact that you always know what your getting with a book and the content will always remain the same, whereas purchasing clothes is a risk because you never know what they will look like in physicality. Amazon however does not solely rely on just book sales. They have attempted to reach every aspect of the retail world to enhance profit figures to a max, and there is also the opportunity for people to sell their own items on amazon, at a fixed price unlike the auction style of the competitor ebay. Amazon also appeals to many customers as it is a secure site, therefore the customers who don’t generally trust online shopping may feel more appealed to amazon. The store itself is also only available online so all their stock is located in one massive warehouse. This means that any deliveries to a certain area can all be shipped at the same time, saving more fuel than of 5 items were being shipped to the same destination from 5 separate locations. This itself would appeal to more economically aware users.

realtime

Real time information is Information that is accurate a the time it is produced, but when viewed at a later date it may then be incorrect particularly if the information itself is based upon an event. If the event for example as already taken place then the real time information will then be entirely irrelevant. Such procedures that involve real time include purchasing and reserving tickets for proceedings such as the cinema or train/bus tickets. These tickets will then remain valid until the end of the screening/journey and from then on after they will have expired. Journeys can also be planned using real time as up to date information is readily available on there whereabouts of your travel service, ie bus or live traffic updates for your precise route.  There are also realtime flight planners available , which show the exact route  and position of an airplane, with details of their departure and arrival times. A more common example of realtime would be webcam, something that in this generation almost any one owns or has the potential to own on.

Route planner:

Instant Messaging

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10713199

 Facebook hits 500m user milestone

in recent years social networking has gained a significant rise in the number of people using these features and this is shown by the dramatically high amount of people using this site facebook. This means that friends and family can easily keep in touch or contact each other when required or just when in the mood for cha depending on your scenario. This boom in interest does however supply the fuel for its own problems, as it enables unknown individuals to effectively stalk your profile without you knowing , and as more people sign up the percentage of these kinds of people will increase, which causes the issues of not having enough privacy, or in fact having to much applied.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8698174.stm

Instant messaging: This conversation is terminated

It appears that despite an initial rise in the use of instant messaging as a result of the speed in sending and receiving text over the internet there has been an increasing downfall over the last two years in its usage. Widely tipped to be a replacement of email for is fast efficient  service it was a mainstay of teenagers and office staff during free time yet there appears there were flaws in the idea of the service. One reason for its decline could easily be the general format of it, as it is of a very “chatty” and informal basis, thus the users would still prefer to send formal messages by email as a look of education and respect. Another reason may be that you must remain at your computer to use the service, where as if you text someone you can send and receive messages from anywhere as long as you have your phone on you. What I believe to be the main reason for its downfall however is facebook. More and more people spanning through all generations and nations are using facebook each day. This not only offers a way to their clients of messaging people, but facebook has its own built in instant messaging system , which not only from personal experience , but from the experiences of fellow colleagues, I know is much more simple than having to sign into a different messaging service in a different browser. This leaves the instant messaging service lacking in users as they are all on facebook.

Email

The use of email




Email or electronic mail is a service provided within the internet which within recent years has become a world wide phenomenon. It is a standard procedure for sending messages across the web to different various contacts, and it is common in this modern age for almost everyone within a country which has the correct facilities for the internet and email to in fact have their own email address. Email addresses however can be used for man more tasks other than just sending and receiving emails.

An exceedingly popular usage for email addresses, particularly among young people, yet increasingly with the older generation, is to sign up to various social networking sights such as facebook or twitter, and from then on the entire account on the said site can be monitored with the email through messages contacting the moderators and alerts sent to your email. This in turn means you don’t have to root around attempting to locate your own updates ect.

In the current technology climate it is not unusual for people to use email as there main form of communication , this is generally because it is free to use thanks to such services as windows live hotmail. This Saves the consumer from what could potentially be the expensive costs from running mobile phones and thanks to wifi the internet is available in enormously diverse areas, which in turn means your emails are practically accessible no matter where you are.

Yet Despite these readily proven pros for email , many people consider email to be a more respected and dignified form of communication therefore rendering emails main clients to those of a working profession particularly those of the business and office background. Despite this the fat remains most people will have an email address and because of the “business man” prejudice email has, they will use it for the more formal use of communication , and thus because of the success and popularity of email writing letters is now being seen as a more archaic approach to communication and therefore in the modern age it is now becoming reserved for only special tasks and as a result of this it is in fact beginning to be rendered obsolete .