Development of E-Commerce.

AVCE Business KELLY WOOD E-Commerce

Development of E-Commerce

E-commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services on the Internet. This offers businesses the potential of another market to sell their products in therefore enabling them to have a higher sales rate, which will overall make an increase profit for the business. There can be barriers to selling products on the internet, the graph below shows many of the barriers shown to businesses:

I have bullet pointed a summary of this graph:

Access to telecommunication services is a 45% high barrier. This shows that businesses do not have enough access to these services therefore they do not bother with e-commerce, if this was readily available e-commerce would be used much more.

The ability for customers and buyers to use e-commerce is a 62% barrier, this is a very high percentage. Business may choose not to use e-commerce because they are afraid that their customers and suppliers will not like this new idea. Businesses need to research into what their customers want because they may prefer the business to use e-commerce.

Time and staff resources has a high percentage of a 66% barrier this shows that businesses probably want to join e-commerce due to the high sales but they do not have the time to train staff and provide the business with employees, which are confident with e-commerce. Another worry is lack of employee skills at 59% high barrier, in order to use e-commerce employees will have to be trained, which will not only cost money but take time out of the employees working day therefore reducing work levels.

Many businesses are worried about the high costs, at a 60% high barrier. To use e-commerce a business will need to employ skilled employees and buy a lot of new high tech equipment, which will prove to be very expensive.

Privacy and security issues at 66% and 56% high barrier are large concerns for businesses joining e-commerce because customers may not want to trust a business via the Internet. Businesses will need to employ a system, which will enable their customers to trust them.

There are many other barriers for businesses when joining e-commerce, the ones I have just described are some of the highest barriers. Although there are many barriers business can gain help from other organisations. Businesses can gain help when thinking of developing within e-commerce from many different organisations for example ‘UK online for business’ can give advice, click on the following hyperlink to visit this site:

This site offers businesses the chance to ask another organisation different questions about e-commerce. It will be able to help the business choose the right strategy for them. Registering with this company will give access to in depth information about e-business technology with the benefits, options and implements. Click on the following hyperlink to see how this certain organisation can help businesses with e-commerce:

The Legal and Corporate Issues

I have chosen a medium size business, which uses e-commerce, it is M & M Sports, which is a catalogue ...

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The Legal and Corporate Issues

I have chosen a medium size business, which uses e-commerce, it is M & M Sports, which is a catalogue and a website .

This business has information on its website concerning customer security, privacy and their terms and conditions when ordering products, for the information, which is not presented; I have emailed the business through its ‘contact us’ email address with the following email:

Hi I am an AVCE Business student and I was wondering if you could help me with a few queries. Please answer the following questions:

What help did you receive concerning e-commerce when M and M Sports first decided to use it?
What do you do to comply with the Data Protection Act?
What do you have to do to comply with the European Directive on minimum health and safety requirements for working with Visual Display Unit?
How do you protect your website against viruses?
How do you ensure that there is not unauthorised access to customer data?

Your help will be much appreciated, thank you

Yours Sincerely

KELLY WOOD

I was given the following information from the organisation through an email reply:

‘As a national mail-order company with an Investor in People award that only last week was confirmed for another 3 years, we obviously look after our staff in all matters connected with Health and Safety and therefore comply with all necessary regulations regarding VDU usage.’

Visual display unit is very important for a business, health and safety must be obtained to a high level for all employees, M and M Sports complies to the regulations through an Investor in People award. Click on the following hyperlink to find out more about the Investor in People award:

This award shows that this organisation has achieved a high standard of commitment to their employees therefore they are complying with the European Directive on minimum health and safety requirements for working with VDU’s. The information, which has not been given to me through the email, is shown on the website, which I have shown by taking extracts from the website:

Security

(Ordering and paying for online orders with M&M Sports is both safe and secure. Security is one of the greatest fears when placing online orders and we as a company have invested in a totally secure and safe site for you to shop. Once you checkout, we encrypt all your details using Internet standard encryption technology (SSL). If you do not want to place your order over the web then look and browse through the site, make a note of the items you want to order and ring our sales line on 01568 616161 to place your order. It's easy!! We would strongly advise not to email an order to us as this is not secure and could be intercepted.)

This information shows that the customer is safe when ordering products, their details will not be distributed and no one can use them. If the customer is still not sure about using the Internet there is a number given, which will enable them to order safely with peace at mind that their details will be safe. Privacy of your details is also important, no customer wants their details distributed to other companies, below is M and M Sport’s privacy policy:

Privacy

(M&M Sports Ltd. is committed to protecting your privacy. The information collected from you is used lawfully in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1988. Any information given at the time of ordering is kept by M&M Sports Ltd. The type of information collected, for the purposes of processing your order are:

Your name
Address
Phone number
Email Address
Credit/debit card details

M&M Sports Ltd does not sell, rent or trade your details to third parties. The information we receive is solely for the use of M&M Sports Ltd. If you do not wish to receive any mailings, email with your email address, customer number or name and address details.)

This is how M and M Sports attend to the Data Protection Act 1988, if they did not then they could be prosecuted. This business would not give details away; this could lead to them loosing a lot of money and prevent customers from buying products off them via the Internet. Not only do M and M Sports need to protect the customer against hackers and distribution of their details but they also need to protect themselves, this is done through the Terms and Conditions:

Terms & Conditions

(All information including pricing is correct at the time of publishing. Items cannot be reserved for customers. All stock is sold on a first come basis, however M&M Sports will endeavor to find suitable alternatives to offer to customers. All items are subject to availability. The reproduction of products is as accurate as photographic and printing processes permit and M&M Sports cannot accept responsibility for variances in colour and style. Every effort will be made to ensure that the reproduction is of the highest quality. However, as the computer screen you use will affect some colours, we cannot guarantee that your monitor will reflect the true colour of the products. M&M Sports reserve the right to alter the specification of products as necessary and offer an equivalent or better product in the event of stock anomalies. We cannot accept overseas orders placed through our website. Please phone 01568 616161or email for details on overseas orders. M&M Sports reserves the right to refuse orders. From time to time we do monitor and record telephone calls our staff receive and make, ensuring the highest service possible to our customers. If, for any reason you are unhappy with the item(s) you have ordered you have the right to cancel.
(a) If you wish to cancel before the items are dispatched you are asked to contact us, by e-mail or phone as soon as is practicably possible.
(b) If your cancellation request is received after the items have been dispatched, please return the goods to us indicating whether you require an exchange or refund. Our returns procedure can be found under 'Terms & Conditions', 'Returns'. All goods are subject to availability and the details given are as accurate and complete as possible. Please note that all prices on the website are for on-line purchases only and may not be matched in the mailed catalogues. Due to circumstances beyond our control prices may occasionally have to be altered, including the rate of VAT. If this occurs you will requested to reconfirm your order at the altered price. Errors and Omissions Excluded)

The business needs to prevent any customers from taking advantage of their services. This can be done using the Terms and Conditions above, if the business lists what the customers can and can not do they are protected. If the customers does something wrong, for example when cancelling an order, this has to be done before despatching of products, if not then the customer will have to send the product back confirming that they have cancelled. This protects the customer from paying mailing costs and protects the business if the products are lost or stolen.

The business needs to do the following to comply with the Data Protection Act due to the increased usage of data being stored on computers:

Data should be processed fairly and lawfully
Personal information should be used only for the purpose it was obtained
Personal data should be relevant to its purpose
Personal data should be accurate and up to date
Personal data should not be kept longer than it is needed
Personal data should be processed in accordance with the rights of the data subject
Personal data should be held securely, measures should be taken to protect data
Personal data should not be transferred out of the EU without appropriate safeguards

M and M Sports have to comply with the Data Protection Act to ensure they do not break any laws and also to gain and keep customers. If customers believe that their data is bring used unlawfully then they will take their custom elsewhere. The ways in which M and M Sports comply with the Data Protection Act is as follows:

‘M&M Sports Ltd. is committed to protecting your privacy. The information collected from you is used lawfully in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1988.’

‘M&M Sports Ltd does not sell, rent or trade your details to third parties. The information we receive is solely for the use of M&M Sports Ltd’

The two quotations in the bullet points above are from the M and M Sports website. This information ensures customers that the business will not use any of their data to their advantage and only for its purpose. This is the only way in which the company ensures they information is safe and that there is no unauthorised access to customer data. A customer will not be totally satisfied with M and M Sports that is why a number has been given in order for the customers to order their products using telephone, which is secure. When I emailed M and M Sports I was not given information on how they prevent people from hacking into the system and how they protected their site against virus’, I was told that it was confidential information. I have researched a number of ways in which the business could prevent any potential data loss:

Computer virus protection – different software can be designed to prevent any virus’ entering the system, this means reading and checking the contents of all files, systems and applications, on each disc and any entering the computer from other drives.

Controlling access – limited amount of users can prevent data loss, this can be done through security staff, locks, alarms, video surveillance, employee authority and password protection.

Maintaining confidentiality – Computer Misuse ACT (1990) this identifies three offences:

Unauthorised access to computer material

Unauthorised access with intent to commit offences

Unauthorised modification of computer material

The ways to prevent data loss will ensure that customer data is kept safe and not distributed.

E-commerce is a new method of selling given to businesses but in order to protect themselves and customers, laws have to be given. A business will jeopardise their reputation if they do not meet laws given to them. M and M Sports have shown they do meet the data protection laws.