Different people and organizations have different definitions of e-commerce. They define e-commerce according to their own characteristics and needs.

Among them, HP believes that e-commerce is a way to complete business and trade activities through electronic means.

According to the Canadian Electronic Commerce Association, electronic commerce is the transaction of goods and services and the transfer of funds through digital communication. It also includes all functions (such as marketing, financial settlement, sales and business negotiation) that can be realized between companies and within companies through e-mail, electronic data exchange, file transmission, fax, video conference and remote computer networking. According to the definition of OECD (EC-electronic commerce), e-commerce is a commercial transaction that takes place on an open network, including transactions between enterprises and between enterprises and consumers.

The Working Group on Electronic Commerce of the Global Information Infrastructure Committee believes that electronic commerce is an economic activity in which people can publicize, buy and settle products and services with economic value by means of electronic communication.

The United States (global e-commerce outline) believes that e-commerce refers to all kinds of business activities conducted through the Internet, including advertising, trading, payment, services and other activities, and global e-commerce will involve all countries in the world.

According to IBM(Electronic-Business), e-commerce is an interrelated dynamic business activity developed on the Internet under the background of the extensive connection of the Internet and the rich resources of the traditional information technology system, which can be divided into broad sense and narrow sense.

Revere Caracota and Andrew B Whiston, authoritative American scholars, believe in Frontiers of Electronic Commerce that, broadly speaking, electronic commerce is a modern business mode. This method can meet the needs of government organizations, manufacturers and consumers to reduce costs by improving the quality of products and services and increasing the speed of service delivery.

By understanding the definitions of e-commerce by different people and organizations, China scholars have come to the conclusion that e-commerce activities are the external business and marketing activities carried out by enterprises using network information technology and electronic technology and the external environment related to these activities.

Foreign online business activities mainly include: procurement, sales, business negotiation, price comparison, business decision-making, marketing strategy, promotion, public relations promotion, pre-sales/after-sales service, customer relations, consulting services, etc.

External environment: security certification, clearing and settlement, logistics and distribution, credit system, technical standards, payment system, etc.

The connotation of e-commerce includes four aspects: preconditions, people's knowledge and skills, serialized and systematic electronic tools and various business activities centered on commodity trading.

Second, the types of e-commerce

E-commerce has its own understanding and views in different companies, resulting in different types of e-commerce. There are eight modes of e-commerce: B2B, B2C, O2O, C2C, B2M, M2C, B2A and C2A.

1, B2B = business to business.

Business-to-business e-commerce refers to the exchange of products, services and information between enterprises through the Internet. Generally speaking, it refers to conducting e-commerce transactions.

Both the supply and demand sides are merchants (or enterprises and companies), and they use Internet technology or various commercial network platforms to complete the process of commercial transactions. These processes include: publishing supply and demand information, ordering and confirming orders, payment process, issuing, transmitting and receiving bills, determining distribution scheme and monitoring distribution process. Sometimes I write B as B, but for simplicity, I simply use its homonym B2B(2 is 2).

Typical examples of B2B are China suppliers, Alibaba, China Manufacturing Network, Dunhuang Network, HC Network, Win Business Network, Needsee, E-commerce Learning Bar and so on. B2B can be divided into foreign trade B2B and domestic trade B2B according to the service object, comprehensive B2B and vertical B2B according to the nature of the industry, and vertical B2B includes: China Chemical Industry Network and Luwen Construction Service Network.

2. B2C = business to customer

B2C mode refers to enabling businesses to provide users with product information services more conveniently through Internet information technology. Users can directly query the product information they need through the internet, and according to the product information, customers can decide whether to buy it-that is, merchants to users. B2C mode is the earliest e-commerce mode in China, which is marked by the official operation of 8848 online mall. Generally speaking, B2C has the following types.

The first comprehensive mall: Taobao Tmall; The second kind of exclusive integration: Sai V network; The third department store: Amazon, Dangdang, Zhuo Yue and online Wal-Mart; The fourth vertical store: McCawlin, Red Kids, JD.COM Mall, Youge.com, Gome, 360 Mall, Laughter.com; Fifth: multi-brand stores: Giordano, Belle; Sixth light brand stores: PPG VANCL, Dream Bazaar; The seventh service-oriented online store: Yimei, too; Eighth shopping guide engine type: Airbnb.

3. C2C = consumer to consumer

C2C, like B2B and B2C, is one of several modes of e-commerce. The difference is that C2C is a user-to-user mode. C2C business platform is to provide an online trading platform for buyers and sellers, so that sellers can actively provide online auction of goods, and buyers can choose their own goods for bidding. Typical C2C include Baidu C2C, Taobao, Paipai, etc.

4. B2M = Business to Manager

Compared with B2B, B2C and C2C, B2M is a brand-new e-commerce model. This kind of e-commerce is essentially different from the above three. The fundamental difference lies in the different nature of the target customer base. The first three target customer groups all appear as a consumer, while the customer groups targeted by B2M are the sellers or workers of enterprises or products, not the final consumers. Enterprises publish their products or services through the network platform, professional managers obtain the information of their products or services through the network, and provide products sales or enterprise services for enterprises. Enterprises achieve the purpose of selling products or obtaining services through the services of managers. Professional managers get commissions by providing services for enterprises.

Compared with traditional e-commerce, B2M has been greatly improved. In addition to the essential differences in user groups, B2M has a greater characteristic advantage: developing e-commerce offline! The characteristics of the above three kinds of traditional e-commerce: the buyers and sellers of goods or services can only be netizens, while the B2M model can completely take the information of goods and services on the network offline. Enterprises release information, managers get business information, and provide goods or services to everyone, whether online or offline. In fact, B2M is essentially a proxy model.

5.O2O = online to offline (narrow sense)

The narrow definition of O2O is: guiding customers to offline stores through networked devices. At present, there are two most popular O2O product models. One is the search model. The typical product is public comment. The usage scenario is: when you don't know what to eat (maybe you are in a strange place, maybe you are in a dilemma of choice), you can search for an unfamiliar store through public comments and then spend. The other is coupon mode. Typical products, such as McDonald's coupons, Vero City, group purchase, Q card, etc. Provide you with discount coupons and mortgage coupons to attract your consumption.

In fact, these two models can be classified into one category, that is, "the more the better." As a merchant, when using search or coupon service, their marketing appeal must be "let more people know me" and "let more people try me and then become my loyal customers". Behind these needs, the leaked essential demand is: I want more customers. This model belongs to the media. Another online-offline parallel to the "more is better" mode is "sooner or later", and its typical applications include membership cards, loyalty cards and point cards. The logic is that I stimulate old customers to spend repeatedly when the number of customers is certain, thus increasing my total sales. O2O products are roughly these two modes.

6. M2C = From manager to consumer

M2C is an extended concept for B2M e-commerce model. In the B2M link, enterprises publish their products or services through the network platform, professional managers obtain the information of their products or services through the network, and provide products sales or enterprise services for enterprises, and enterprises achieve the purpose of selling products or obtaining services through the services of managers. In M2C, the manager will face the consumer, that is, the final consumer.

M2C is an extension of B2M, and it is also an indispensable follow-up development link of B2M, a new e-commerce model. Managers will eventually sell their products to the final consumers, a large part of which will be in the form of e-commerce, similar to C2C, but not exactly the same. C2C is a traditional profit model, and what it earns is basically the price difference of goods. On the other hand, M2C's profit model is richer and more flexible, which can be price difference or commission. Moreover, the logistics management mode of M2C can be more diverse than that of C2C, such as zero inventory; Cash flow is also more advantageous than traditional C2C.

E-commerce on the Internet can be divided into three aspects: information service, transaction and payment. The main contents include: e-commerce advertising; Electronic purchase and exchange of transactions and electronic transaction vouchers; Electronic payment settlement and after-sales online service. The main types of transactions are business-to-person transactions (B-to-C mode) and business-to-business transactions (B-to-B mode). There are four subjects involved in e-commerce: customers (individual consumers or enterprise groups), merchants (including vendors, manufacturers, storage and transportation companies), banks (including issuers and acquirers) and certification centers. From the perspective of trade activities, e-commerce can be realized in multiple links, or it can be divided into two levels. The lower-level e-commerce is e-commerce, e-trade, e-contract and so on. The most complete and advanced e-commerce should be to use the Internet to carry out all trade activities, that is, to completely realize information flow, business flow, capital flow and partial logistics on the Internet. In other words, you can negotiate with customers online, place orders, pay (collect money), issue electronic invoices or even electronic customs declaration and pay taxes in one step.

To achieve a complete e-commerce will involve many aspects, except buyers and sellers.

Banks or financial institutions, government agencies, certification bodies, distribution centers and other institutions must join. Because the parties involved in e-commerce don't know each other physically, the whole process of e-commerce is not a copy of business activities in the physical world. Online banking, online electronic payment, data encryption, electronic signature and other conditions and technologies play an important and indispensable role in e-commerce.

In addition, there are two types of e-commerce modes: B2A and C2A.

7.B2A = business versus administration (that is, B2G = business versus government).

E-commerce between commercial institutions and administrative institutions refers to e-commerce activities between enterprises and government agencies. For example, the government will publish the procurement details online, and through online bidding, enterprises will also bid electronically. At present, this method is still in the preliminary experimental stage, but it may develop rapidly, because the government can establish an image in this way and promote the development of e-commerce through demonstration. In addition, the government can also manage the administrative affairs of enterprises through this kind of e-commerce. For example, the government can issue import and export licenses and carry out statistical work through e-commerce, and enterprises can handle tax payment and tax refund online.

China's Jinguan Project is to establish an e-commerce framework dominated by foreign trade, and promote the development of various e-commerce activities in China through e-commerce from commercial organizations to administrative organizations, such as issuing import and export licenses, handling export tax rebates, and electronic customs declaration.

8.C2A = consumer to government (that is, C2G = consumer to government).

Consumer-to-administrative e-commerce refers to government-to-individual e-commerce.

Activities. This kind of e-commerce activity has not really taken shape yet. However, in some developed countries, such as Australia, the government tax authorities have designated private tax offices or financial accounting companies to submit individual tax returns electronically. Although this kind of activity has not yet reached the real electronic tax return, it has already had the embryonic form of consumer-to-administrative e-commerce.

With the development of electronic commerce between commercial organizations and consumers, and between commercial organizations and administrative organizations, the government will provide more comprehensive electronic services to individuals in society. Various services provided by government departments to social taxpayers, such as paying social welfare funds, will be conducted online in the future.

Third, my understanding of e-commerce.

E-commerce refers to the commodity management and marketing activities carried out by enterprises using network technology and electronic technology. Simply put, it is to transfer the economic activities previously carried out in shopping malls or supermarkets to the network platform through network technology and electronic technology, but it is not simply to transfer trading places, but to revolutionize the traditional retail industry through the network technology platform.

Nowadays, online shopping is becoming more and more popular, and the traditional retail industry has been greatly impacted. The main reasons are as follows:

1, convenient online shopping. People no longer need to go shopping in the mall, but only need a computer and a network cable (or WLAN) to shop in five or six minutes, which meets the needs of modern urbanites and enables urbanites to make full use of their fragmentation time. That is to meet your shopping needs without delaying your work.

2. Online shopping is cheap. On the one hand, e-commerce does not need counters (or facades) of shopping malls, which can save a large part of counter rent; The inventory of the other e-commerce company is relatively small, even reaching zero inventory. Web page display only needs a small amount of goods, and after consumers place orders online, e-commerce will place orders with manufacturers to keep their inventory low or even zero (this is because cash flow and logistics in e-commerce are out of sync, and the interval between them is logistics time). Moreover, manufacturers can also directly use e-commerce to implement the product direct selling mode, and then organize raw materials to produce products according to the situation of consumers placing orders online, so as to reduce unnecessary risks (this production mode requires a strict and stable logistics supply chain to ensure the timely supply of raw materials). All these help to reduce the price of products. In addition to the above two reasons, due to the relatively low geographical restrictions of the Internet, economic activities can be carried out nationwide or even worldwide, and the market scope and space are greatly expanded. Due to the existence of the long tail theory effect, the price of goods has also decreased to some extent.

There are many kinds of online goods, which is convenient for you to choose according to your needs. Because there is no order, you don't need to save money first, just take photos of the goods on the webpage. So you can show as many products as you can sell, which makes the network products numerous.

4. The information of online goods is relatively complete, which gives consumers the opportunity to know more information and facilitate the selection of goods.

The rapid development of China's logistics industry makes e-commerce transactions faster and more convenient.

These reasons make e-commerce flourish, but there are also some problems in e-commerce. Mainly includes:

1. The online goods are complicated, and the quality of the goods is mixed. A large number of "cottage" goods flooded the market. Although this enables mass consumers to obtain new technical products as soon as possible, it is easy to disrupt the market order because they just fight price wars blindly.

2. Security of payment means. The popular QR code payment some time ago has been stopped by the central bank due to security problems. It is undeniable that QR code payment is indeed convenient for consumers to pay, but the security threat of QR code Trojan virus does exist.

3, network security, since the birth of e-commerce in China, network security has been a big problem that puzzles its development, but we can't ban e-commerce because of network security problems, but we should take technical measures to prevent network security problems. Trojan virus is also made up by people, and I believe that IT elites are fully capable of controlling the network environment within a safe range.

Extended reading: e-commerce and knowledge management

Knowledge management is knowledge-centered management, that is, the management of a series of processes, such as knowledge collection, organization, innovation, diffusion, use and development, on which the production and operation of enterprises depend. The fundamental purpose of knowledge management is to manage all kinds of knowledge continuously and dynamically, and to meet the existing and future new opportunities to open up the market by confirming and utilizing the existing and acquired knowledge assets. Its starting point is to regard knowledge as the most important resource of an enterprise, and to make maximum use of knowledge as the key to improve its competitiveness.

Today, the development of enterprises is shifting from traditional dependence on capital accumulation to knowledge accumulation and renewal, and knowledge management is becoming a new generation of enterprise management mode after experience management, scientific management, behavior management and modern management. The goal of knowledge management is manifested in three aspects:

First, enterprises should have strong market insight and adaptability, and the acquisition of this ability must rely on the knowledge accumulation of employees;

Second, enterprises should have the ability to acquire all kinds of new knowledge continuously, because the ability to acquire and apply knowledge will become the key factor of enterprise competitiveness;

Third, enterprises should have the characteristics of high integration. The whole production and operation activities of an enterprise, from market research, product design and development, manufacturing, marketing management to after-sales service, constitute an inseparable whole.

The implementation of e-commerce has created conditions for enterprises to implement knowledge management, and at the same time, it has conveyed to enterprises that only through knowledge management can they adapt to the new development requirements. On the one hand, e-commerce greatly enhances the ability of enterprises to acquire and apply knowledge. Enterprises can collect useful information they need through the network, and can spread and exchange knowledge through the network, so that employees' personal knowledge can easily be transformed into "enterprise knowledge" that can be widely enjoyed and properly used within enterprises; On the other hand, e-commerce makes it very important for enterprises to obtain information and knowledge from the market and customers, and to establish a knowledge and information sharing mechanism. Enterprises must closely combine knowledge management with e-commerce in order to seek greater development.

Knowledge management to adapt to the development of e-commerce mainly starts from four aspects:

First, set up an enterprise knowledge supervisor, grasp the knowledge needs of enterprises in time, actively guide and encourage employees to contribute their knowledge, and become the common wealth of enterprises. At the same time, remove the obstacles of traditional information exchange between employees and bosses, and create a good environment for them to enjoy knowledge.

Second, establish a democratic, transparent and open decision-making mechanism, and fully respect the knowledge value of employees;

Third, create a good corporate culture conducive to knowledge management and cultivate the cooperative spirit of employees;

Fourth, let the network become an important tool for enterprise knowledge management, and let the network become an effective weapon for enterprise employees to learn and apply knowledge while providing information transmission.