Gone are the days, when you have to go to the market to buy a single item. Nowadays you just have to place an order online, and that item will come to you within few minutes. Online shopping is getting popular, just because of its simplicity as well as the services provided by them. This is possible only because of two electronic networks are known as e-commerce and e-business. It is not easy to differentiate the two because they are closely interconnected terms. e-commerce is nothing but buying and selling of goods around the web. e-business is a little different as it is not limited to, commercial transactions, but it also provides other services.
Comparison Chart
| BASIS FOR COMPARISON | E-COMMERCE | E-BUSINESS |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Trading of merchandise, over the internet is known as E-commerce. | Running business using the internet is known as E-business. |
| What is it? | Subset | Superset |
| Is it limited to monetary transactions? | Yes | No |
| What they carry out? | Commercial transactions | Business transactions |
| Approach | Extroverted | Ambiverted |
| Requires | Website | Website, CRM, ERP, etc. |
| Which network is used? | Internet | Internet, Intranet and Extranet. |
Definition of e-commerce
e-commerce is an abbreviation used for electronic commerce. It is the process through which the buying, selling, dealing, ordering and paying for the goods and services are done over the internet is known as e-commerce. In this type of online commercial transaction, the seller can communicate with the buyer without having a face to face interaction.
Some examples of real world application of e-commerce are online banking, online shopping, online ticket booking, social networking, etc.
The basic requirement of e-commerce is a website. The marketing, advertising, selling and conducting transaction are done with the help of internet. Any monetary transaction, which is done with the help of electronic media is e-commerce. The following are the types of e-commerce:
- B2B – The process where buying and selling of goods and services between businesses is known as Business to Business. Example: Oracle, Alibaba, Qualcomm, etc.
- B2C – The process whereby the goods are sold by the business to customer. Example: Intel, Dell etc.
- C2C – The commercial transaction between customer to customer. Example: OLX, Quickr etc.
- C2B – The commercial transaction between customer to the business.
Definition of e-business
Electronic Business, shortly known as e-business, is the online presence of business. It can also be defined as the business which is done with the help of internet or electronic data interchange i.e. is known as E-business. E-commerce is one of the important components of e-business, but it is not an essential part.
e-business is not confined to buying and selling of goods only, but it includes other activities that also form part of business like providing services to the customers, communicating with employees, client or business partners can contact the company in case if they want to have a word with the company, or they have any issue regarding the services, etc. All the basic business operations are done using electronic media. There are two types of e-business, which are:
- Pure-Play: The business which is having an electronic existence only.
- Brick and Click: The business model, in which the business exists both in online i.e. electronic and offline i.e. physical mode.
Key Differences Between e-commerce and e-business
The following are the major differences between e-commerce and e-business:
- Buying and Selling of goods and services through the internet is known as e-commerce. Unlike e-business, which is an electronic presence of business, by which all the business activities are conducted through the internet.
- e-commerce is a major component of e-business.
- e-commerce includes transactions which are related to money, but e-business includes monetary as well as allied activities.
- e-commerce has an extroverted approach that covers customers, suppliers, distributors, etc. On the other hand, e-business has an ambivert approach that covers internal as well as external processes.
- e-commerce requires a website that can represent the business. Conversely, e-business requires a website, Customer Relationship Management and Enterprise Resource Planning for running the business over the internet.
- e-commerce uses the internet to connect with the rest of the world. In contrast to e-business, the internet, intranet and extranet are used for connecting with the parties .
Conclusion
e-commerce is the major part of e-business. It can also be said that e-commerce is e-business websites, but e-business is not necessarily e-commerce. The former is just the online presence of the conventional commerce and the same is the case with the latter.
At present most of the companies are doing e-business just to capture the maximum part of the market. Some e-commerce websites have emerged since last few years who are vanishing the market traditional commercial business, like Flipkart, Amazon, eBay, etc.
