Online Business Activity

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BTEC First in Business                Unit 8: Business Online

Unit 8 – Business Online

Task 1 - Online Business Activity

In this task I am going to describe the internet and the business activities used online such as the online auctions, banking online, internet chatrooms, gambling online, job searches and last minute services. I am also going to look at a business which has an active website and explore its features.

Internet

The internet is the worldwide, public accessible network of computer networks that transmit data using the standard Internet Protocol (IP). The World Wide Web (www) joins computers together so any one computer can gain access to information made available on other computers elsewhere in the world.  

Online business

Online business is a rapidly developing feature of business activity. Business online covers the business activities used online and the e-commerce. E-commerce is the way of buying and selling online.

Online Business Activities

Online Auctions

The online auctions are used to buying and selling goods. The seller describes   the item being sold, buyers bid a price to buy it and the highest bidder acquires the goods. The online auctions are becoming more popular than the traditional auctions. Nowadays, the Californian auction site eBay is the most well known, with a market share of over 85 per cent. To access to online auctions, people need to register and have a credit card.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Online auctions offer advantages such as access to customers worldwide, free account setup, sales completed quickly and efficiently and payments accepted from international buyers. There are also disadvantages associated with online auctions. The principal disadvantages are: some fraudulent members, competition from others websites, sometimes we don’t receive the delivery and we can not see the product, only the picture.

Example

The most well known website for online auctions is .

Banking Online

The high street banks offer customers the option to bank online. First the customers have to register and then they can enjoy online banking.  The online banking is secured by a unique ID and password, which must be keyed in to gain access to a protected area on the bank. Banking online enables the users to view and print off statements, bill payments, transfer money between accounts and apply for a loan. Customers can do this 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Online auctions are convenient for the customer, inexpensive as they don’t need to pay anything to access to the account, and they can bank online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and anywhere in the world.

There are also some disadvantages for the user: user must have basic computer skills and Internet knowledge, security concerns like “hackers” accessing the bank accounts and finally the user need and account with an Internet Service Provider (ISP).

Join now!

Examples

The majority of the banks operating in the UK have banking online accessible for its costumers. Some websites are: ,  and .

Internet chat rooms

In the chat rooms people can communicate with each other in real-time. The user should have an ID login and a password to get access to communicate in real-time. Some chatrooms are safer than others because they require users to register by providing their email address and also include safety features, such as “ignore buttons”. There are other ways of communicating over the internet:

  • Email – Most of ...

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