The Future of Wireless Commerce

It has been hyped for years – wireless commerce and the ability to make purchases from a cell phone or mobile device. However, wireless commerce still hasn’t hit full stride in the US and probably won’t have wide scale support and adoption for several years. The technology divide exists where the next generation of technology meets deployment challenges and delays. Carriers and device manufacturers cannot agree on standards. And the biggest challenge that remains: waiting for the industry to accept wireless commerce and let it have its own space to breath in the mobile ecosystem.

Over the last decade, text messaging services and mobile internet has quickly taken hold in the US. As of June 2008, the CTIA reports that in the US, over 75 Billion text messages are sent and received every month. To put that into perspective, in June 2000, the number of text messages was just 12 million (not billion). How and why did mobile messaging kick into full gear? Wireless carriers opened their networks to inter-carrier messaging that transmits messages between mobile communications networks regardless of technologies involved (CDMA, GSM, iDen, or TDMA). This has lead to mass adoption to text messaging and opened the door for mobile marketing.

Advertisers, retailers and other service businesses have jumped on board to take advantage of mobile marketing. Mobile marketing can enhance customer loyalty and reduce churn and as it becomes a popular and sustainable revenue-generating medium, will also force the carriers to take notice.

The complete mobile ecosystem includes network operators, advertisers, technology and solutions providers, service providers and consumers who all stand to benefit from wireless commerce. To apply wireless commerce to everyday life, companies are quickly developing new mobile commerce applications. These applications and services are prepared to give a significant boost to the adoption of wireless commerce across the mobile ecosystem. Some of these applications include:

” Mobile brokerage
” Mobile financial information

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” Mobile gaming
” Download of music and ring tones
” Download of videos and digital images
” Location-based entertainment services

” Current affairs (financial, sport and other news)
” Travel information
” Tracking services (persons and objects)
” Mobile search engines and directories Mobile office

” Direct (context-sensitive) marketing
” Organization of mobile events
” Mobile newsletters

” Mobile purchasing of goods and services

” Public transport
” Sports and cultural events
” Air and rail traffic
” Mobile parking

These mobile commerce applications are currently in use by retailers, banks and other companies. Other wireless commerce applications are being tested throughout several markets in the US. Having a mobile commerce application is only half the challenge. Many wireless carriers require approval for some types of m-commerce while others have to approve each campaign running across their network or promoted in their storefront. These new campaigns and applications often require certification and testing prior to acceptance.

Quality of service and ease of use are often considered part of a carrier review. According to Telephia, 22 percent of consumers who encounter a “quality of service” problem when making a purchase give up on the purchase. They also tend to register their complaint with the retailer or their wireless carrier. However, all is not lost. Those who can’t finish the order process often complete their purchase in store or online and 17 percent stated they would try again later.

“We have found that user testing and quality of service improvements are critical if we expect to foster development of wireless commerce as a sustainable and formable business model,” noted David Geipel, President of US-based QWASI, Inc. “Companies have to create a user experience for wireless commerce and m-commerce that supports industry growth.”

The future of wireless commerce and m-commerce depends on a number of players in the mobile ecosystem to be creative and innovative. A solid, replicatible customer experience is vital to growing m-commerce throughout the next decade. As more retailers and companies dip their toe into the water, one thing is sure: the outlook for wireless commerce is bright.

Source: ArticlesBase.com

E-COMMERCE APPLICATIONS IN BUSINESS

 

E-Commerce is the dealing of business electronically with the help of computers and internet tools. Electronic Commerce is a general term applied to the use of computer and telecommunications technologies to support trading in goods and services. It is defined as any form of business transaction in which the parties interact electronically rather than by physical exchanges or direct physical contact. Most people think ecommerce means online shopping. But the shopping is only a small part of the e-commerce picture. The term something refers to any form of business operation or transaction, including online stock and bond transactions, buying services, buying and downloading software, music, and movies. From a customer’s perspective, the purpose of an e-commerce system is to enable the customer to locate and purchase a desired commodity or service over the Internet.

 

With the help internet we can do any business transactions by finger tips. Placing an order to purchase certain things, making payment to the creditors, buying and selling of shares etc, are happening within a second. The Internet tool can connect all businesses to each other, regardless of their location or country or position in the supply chain. This ability presents a huge threat to traditional intermediaries like wholesalers and brokers. Internet connections facilitate businesses to bargain directly with a range of suppliers, thereby eliminating the need for such intermediaries. An example in this category would be a company that uses a network for ordering from its suppliers, receiving invoices and making payments. This category of e-commerce has been well established for several years, over private or Value-Added Networks.

The customer is king of the modern day business. The companies are focusing mainly on customer centric activities. Now e-commerce is focused on the use of a virtual storefront on the  World Wide Web that allows an Internet user to browse and order goods or services from the storefront’s online catalogue. This category largely equates to electronic retailing. It is clearly modeled on the real-world shopping experience, with carts to drop your goods into and checkouts to settle your bill with a credit card. There are now shopping malls all over the Internet offering all kinds of consumer goods, from sweets and cakes to computers and cars.

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Companies are rushing to take advantage of this market. Availability of secure web transactions is enabling companies to allow consumers to purchase products directly over the Web. The most prominent of the new paradigms is that of relationship marketing. Because consumer actions can be tracked on the Web, companies are experimenting with this commerce methodology as a tool for market research and relationship marketing. An example of a company that has leveraged the power of Internet interactivity to revolutionize customer relationships is Firefly. Firefly is creating a custom product for each of its customers, based on the customer’s profile and buying behavior.

 

Right now all sectors doing their business in the e-commerce route. It reduces the cost, time and human resources involvement. E-commerce encompasses a broad range of activities. The core component includes electronic trading of physical goods and services and of information-based electronic material. The whole of the commercial transaction, including ordering, invoicing and payment, and delivery cycle can be supported electronically. What characterizes electronic commerce is the pervasiveness of technology. The use of the Internet to support marketing and customer-interface is only part of electronic innovations that are changing the way firms do business. With intranets, corporations distribute internal memos and announcements to their employees, and knowledge exchange and scheduling communications flow worldwide in a timely fashion. With direct connection to suppliers using extranet, the same technology is used for manufacturing and supply-chain management.

 

The Internet has grown more rapidly than anyone could have imagined even a few years ago. It has changed the way in which the world conducts business. Goods are purchased and sold, services are rendered, stocks are traded, newspaper and magazine subscriptions are sold, and up-to-the-minute news and financial information is readily available. The potential scope, size and overall economic impact of this economic system is much larger than what we can comprehend today. To get an idea, first look at the size, growth and status of this new market, and then will try to find out its potential in future.

 

While e-commerce is mounting rapidly, there are numerous issues that must be resolved if its full potential is to be realized. Some unwanted and illegal proceedings are happening from time to time. In automatic teller machine, quite we find that kind of mistakes. The same kind of mischief is happening almost all areas.

 

Now the entire business transactions are doing with the help of internet and intranet, which is extension of e-commerce business. The business required some sort of innovative ideas in the e-commerce technology to equip it. The online share trading, dematerialization of securities, inter-bank settlement requires still some innovative technology. E-commerce is not a revolutionary dream. It is happening now at fast, with many well established success stories and examples. E-commerce is essentially global in both notion and realization. Millions of individuals and companies, around the world, are already buying, selling, bidding, advertising, brokering and collaborating on daily basis. The impact of e-commerce will be persistent, both on companies and on society as a whole.

Source: ArticlesBase.com