Assignment 2: E-commerce

E-COMMERCE

     Electronic commerce, commonly written as e-commerce or eCommerce, is the trading or facilitation of trading in products or services using computer networks, such as the Internet. E-commerce is the buying and selling of products and services by businesses and consumers through an electronic medium, without using any paper documents. E-commerce is widely considered the buying and selling of products over the internet, but any transaction that is completed solely through electronic measures can be considered e-commerce. Business conducted through the use of computers, telephones, fax machines, barcode readers, credit cards, automated teller machines (ATM) or other electronic appliances (whether or not using the internet) without the exchange of paper-based documents. It includes activities such as procurement, order entry, transaction processing, payment, authentication and non-repudiation, inventory control, order fulfillment, and customer support. When a buyer pays with a bank card swiped through a magnetic-stripe-reader, he or she is participating in e-commerce.

            I have selected 2 e-commerce websites which are Screwfix and eBay.

        A B2B transaction e-commerce is short for business-to-business. B2B describes companies doing business with each other such as manufacturers selling to distributors and wholesalers selling to retailers. In B2B e-commerce, both the seller and the buyers are business organizations.  B2B also is a electronic commerce that selling products or services between businesses through the internet via an online sales portal. In general, it is used to improve efficiency for companies. B2B e-commerce website that I have selected is Screwfix. Screwfix is the UK's largest multi-channel retailer of trade tools, accessories and hardware products. Customers can have the option to click & collect pay for the order online and your goods will be available for collection in the store of your choice in 5 minutes.

            On the other hand, a C2C (Customer to customer) transaction e-commerce is a business model that facilitates an environment where customers can trade with each other. Two implementations of customer-to-customer markets is classifieds. Customer-to-customer marketing has soared in popularity with the arrival of the internet, as companies such as eBay. Customer-to-customer sites make their money from fees charged to sellers for listing items for sale, adding on promotional features and completing transactions. Also known as consumer to consumer (C2C). C2C e-commerce website that I have selected is eBay. eBay is an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide.

  

          Next, we will discuss about the components of e-commerce architecture of Screwfix and eBay website. Firstly, the access control and security of Screwfix and eBay have establish mutual trust and secure access between parties in an e-commerce transaction by authenticating users, authorizing access, and enforcing security features. In order to conduct the transaction through both of the websites, the users need to register and login to their own account through user names and passwords. The both e-commerce sites will then authorize access to only those parts of the site that an individual user needs to accomplish his or her particular transactions. Screwfix use GlobalSign secure server technology that implements Secure Socket Layering (SSL) to protect your details and assist your shopping experience. SSL is the industry standard for encryption and enables millions of secure online transactions everyday. 

Log In for Screwfix

Log In for eBay 

          Secondly, for the profiling and personalizing of Screwfix and eBay website, profiling processes happen to gather data on you and your website behavior and choices, as well as build electronic profiles of your characteristics and preferences. User profiles are developed using profiling tools such as user registration, website behavior tracking software, and user feedback. These profiles are then used to recognize you as an individual user and provide you with a personalized view of the contents of the site. Profiling processes also used to help authenticate your identity for account management and payment purposes.

          Furthermore, for search management of Screwfix and eBay website, efficient and effective search processes provide a top e-commerce website capability that will helps customers to find the specific product or service they want to evaluate or buy. 

Search for Screwfix

                                                                    Search for eBay

      Besides that, the content management of Screwfix and eBay website helps e-commerce companies to develop, generate, deliver, update, and archive text data and multimedia information at e-commerce Web sites. In addition, the catalog management of Screwfix and eBay website may be expanded to include product configuration processes that support Web-based customer self-service and the mass customization of a company's products.

Catalog Management for Screwfix

                                                     Catalog Management for eBay

        Moreover, for the electronic payment system, Screwfix website accept the Credit and Debit Cards such as Visa, Master Card, Maestro and PayPal. Oppositely, eBay website accept the method of payment such as personal check, cashier’s check, bank transfers and credit cards.

Payment System for Screwfix

Payment System for eBay

          Lastly, for the collaboration and trading of Screwfix and eBay website, this major category of e-commerce processes consists of those that support the vital collaboration arrangements and trading services needed by customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders to accomplish e-commerce transactions. customer-focused e-business uses tools such as e-mail and discussion groups to nurture online communities of interest among employees and customers to enhance customer service and build customer loyalty in e-commerce.

         To sum up, I prefer C2C e-commerce because this type of e-commerce transaction reduce the costs. Sellers can post their goods over the internet cheaply compared to the high rent space in a store.  The lower expenses lead to smaller, yet profitable customer base.  Being in a community of similar interest where buyers and sellers come together leading to more chances of goods and services being sold. Besides, in C2C e-commerce, small businesses can obtain a higher profitability compared to a physical store because of the reduction of overhead costs when conducting an e-business.

Assignment 1 - Presentation Software

The Common Features or Functionalities of Microsoft PowerPoint and Prezi

         I have selected 2 presentation software which are Microsoft PowerPoint and Prezi. 

        Microsoft PowerPoint is an electronic slide presentation created and presented using the program to communicate by the electronic slides. Microsoft PowerPoint is an easy program to use and a powerful tool for giving a presentation. PowerPoint can easily input the images, built in the templates for different appearances, add the notes pages and add the media and the recordings. It is more exciting than a simple word document or hand written presentation. Besides, Microsoft PowerPoint can be used in a number of different effective ways to communicate with people. The slides are completely customizable to fit your needs depending on your approach, you may want to have a presentation that is text-heavy, image-heavy or some combination of both. It can reduce complicated messages to simple bullet points. The bullet points are a good basis for the presentation and remind the speaker of the main points and the organization of the message. PowerPoint is easy to create a colorful , attractive design by using the standard templates and themes, even if you do not have much knowledge of basic graphic design principles. Microsoft PowerPoint presentation with the world. You can upload your presentation to the websites such as YouTube with everything featured in your work including all of the slides, commentary and transitions.

  

          Prezi is a cloud-based presentation software based on a software as a service model.  Prezi allows users to create beautiful and compelling stories through an overarching image structure combined with a unique navigation system that zooms into key components. Prezi’s unique differentiation is it’s zoom function. This allows the presenter to simply click the background with the mouse to zooms out the presentation to an overview, and also allow the presenter to zoom into the area they want. Next, Prezi is considered to be a non-linear presentation software. It allows the presenters to choose their own paths. In other words, users can jump in and out ideas and are given more flexibility when presenting ideas. Besides that, Prezi is free and web-based, which means you can work from any computer with an internet connection. Users don’t need to download any programs into their computer and they also don’t need to carry around an external hard drive or flash drive in order to present. Since they are web-based, Prezi presentations can easily be embedded into blogs and webpages. 

        The table below show some of the common features or functionalities between Microsoft PowerPoint and Prezi : 
            

Features/Functionalities	Microsoft PowerPoint	Prezi
Saving to PDF	Yes	Yes
Included Themes	A lot	A lot
Custom Themes	Yes	Yes
Inserting Image	Yes	Yes (cannot paste in web images)
Image Cropping	Yes	Yes
Video Files Insertion	Yes, limited formats	Yes, many format
Youtube Media Insertion	Window-Yes, Mac-No	Yes
Sound Insertion	Yes, multiple file types	Yes, multiple file types
Soundtrack Insertion	Yes	Yes
Web Link Insertion	Yes	Yes
Auto Spell Check	Yes	Yes

Microsoft PowerPoint Software

Prezi Software

The Differences between Microsoft PowerPoint and Prezi

There are some differences between Microsoft PowerPoint and Prezi software. The table below show the differences between Microsoft PowerPoint and Prezi.

	Microsoft PowerPoint	Prezi
Ease Of Use	Easy	Moderate
Fonts, styles, themes, colours	Large number of choices offered	Limited choices offered
Software Model	Application based, require program installations	Web-based, require Internet
Metaphor	Slide / Slide Tray	Canvas / Whiteboard
Transitions	For some materials, the linear design of  PowerPoint is perfect. The transition effect is a lot and optional.	The zooming features when use appropriately can  emphasize connections between ideas and processes.
Motion sickness	Not an issue	Can be an issue if users are not careful with transition frequency and depth effects
Saved Files Types	PPT files on computer	PEZ files on web, downloadable
Templates	Hundreds of free templates	Over 90 free templates
Embed on web page	Using 3rd party (eg: Slide Share)	Yes
Template design	Designs are fairly basic	Very high end design with modern animation
Drawing tools	Huge Variety	Limited
Pricing	Usually sold as part of the Microsoft Office  Suite, can cost several hundred dollars	Basic for free, pay for upgrade
Printer Friendliness	Great	Not Great

Which Software Do I Prefer. Why ?

           In my opinion, I think that Microsoft PowerPoint and Prezi both have their own benefits. I personally prefer Microsoft PowerPoint for my presentation. This is because I am more familiar with Microsoft PowerPoint software that are more user friendly compared to Prezi. Microsoft office programs such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel are taught by teacher in school, so most people have at least some familiarity of how the software works. PowerPoint is very simple to use compared to Prezi which are more complicated. 

         Besides that, PowerPoint provides seemingly endless possibilities when it comes to slide design. You can choose from an endless amount of fonts, colors, backgrounds and graphics. It comes with pre-made slide layouts that allow you to easily change the fonts, colors, backgrounds and graphics used in each slide.

            Maybe some people will think that Microsoft PowerPoint to be an out-dated software because they associate it with primary school and will think that PowerPoint is simple.  But actually the reality is that we can do so much more with PowerPoint that many people do not realize. Most people do not understand the full potential of PowerPoint. The simple slide themes can be tweaked to look more sleek and modern, while the linear progression of the presentation makes it simple for viewers to follow. Yes! It is true that Prezi is great for those that want to break out of the boring PowerPoint rut. It offers a fresh new take on the tradisional presentation, and can be a great way to keep viewers engaged. However, if we do not master Prezi software well, the Prezi presentations can make the viewers dizzy.

           Although there are places where each of the software may be more effective, but it is important that your presentation does not depend on the program used, but how the program is used. You could create the flashiest Prezi in the world and not get any information across, but you could create a simple PowerPoint full of mind-bending information that people would not forget it so fast. No matter which software we prefer, we must first take the time to master and use it to create good presentations.

         In conclusion, I will be more prefer to use Microsoft PowerPoint software that I am more familiar with. This can make sure that viewers will engaged with my presentation content. In addition, I also want to ensure that the audiences can get all the informations that I want to share with them. I will prefer to use Microsoft PowerPoint also because most of my audiences know how to use PowerPoint and can make minor changes themselves if they want later on.

What Did I learned From This Assignment?

         The assignment given required us to create a blog, explore 2 presentation software, talking about the common and the differences between the 2 presentation software and explain more details about both software through a blog writing. I have selected 2 presentation software for this assignment which named Microsoft PowerPoint and Prezi.

          Firstly, through this assignment, I have learned how to create a blog and the way to do blog writing. I am using Blogger to do this assignment. Before doing this assignment, I have totally no idea with what is the blog and how to write a blog. After doing this assignment, I become more understand about what is the blog, know more about blog writing features and I also already know how to write a blog.

          Next in order, I have explored 2 presentation software that I selected which named Microsoft PowerPoint and Prezi. In spite of I am quite familiar with the operation of Microsoft PowerPoint, but after I explored it, I realized that there are still a lot of features and functionalities that I do not know about PowerPoint. Besides that, after explored the 2 presentation software, I also gained more knowledges about Prezi software.

          For your information, I have never use Prezi software before. In order to gained more better understanding about Prezi software, I have registered an account for Prezi and try to use it. After explored this software, I realized that Prezi is a presentation software that are more creative compared to Microsoft PowerPoint which is more boring. 

       After I explored this 2 presentation software, I have learned the advantages and the disadvantages of Microsoft PowerPoint and Prezi software. Besides that, I also have a better understanding about the features of Microsoft PowerPoint and Prezi software compared to last time. Moreover, I also learned about the similarities and the differences between Microsoft PowerPoint and Prezi that I had done in this assignment.

        In addition, I knew that PowerPoint is more suitable for presentation that need to explain reports, step-by-step ideas, processes, linear, number and data. Contrastively, Prezi is more suitable for presentation that need to look into details, to skip back and forth, brainstorming,  map like layout, timeline and whiteboard effects.   

       Furthermore, I have learned a lot of things through this assignment. I also gained more understanding about the presentation software and the blog software that I had explored to do this assignment. After this, I will explore more about other presentation software to gain more knowledge about the presentation software. I also will try my best to apply those presentation software in my coming assignments and presentations.

            To sum up, even though that Prezi software is more creative and interactive, but I still prefer to use Microsoft PowerPoint in my presentation. This is because I have limited time and need to display ideas, facts, and figures in a simple way. However, I think, if you have the time to learn a new software and really want to create an interactive experience for your audience, you are recommended to use Prezi software.