Topic outline

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  General

  Online shopping
  
  What do we mean by the term? Who are the big hitters? Learn more from the course below...
  
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  Topic 1

  Introduction

  • Introduction Page
  • Online shopping – think of it as a shopping centre in cyberspace, with online auctions as the car-boot sale in the car park. This unit will help you understand how to use online shopping sites, how to...
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  Topic 2

  1 Introducing eBay

  • 1 Introducing eBay Page
  • One of the earliest popular applications of the Web was an online auction system called eBay. Think of it as an enormous car-boot sale. In an ordinary (offline) auction system, you brought things you wished...
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  Topic 3

  2 How to do it – eBay

  • 2.1 Exploring eBay Page
  • First, have a look around the eBay system to get a feel for how it works.
  • 2.2 Making a bid on eBay Page
  • Anyone can browse any auction in eBay, just as you have been doing. In order to bid, however, you need to register with eBay. You can do this by clicking on the ‘register’ link at the top of the home page...
  • 2.3 Selling on eBay Page
  • To sell goods on eBay you have to go through a more elaborate registration process than that needed merely to bid. You have to provide more information on your personal details, and provide the number...
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  Topic 4

  3 What's going on with eBay

  • 3 What's going on with eBay Page
  • eBay is a huge database with a Web interface. (A database is a collection of information organised in such a way that a computer program can quickly retrieve desired pieces of data.) The database is continually...
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  Topic 5

  4 The eBay phenomenon – what it means

  • 4 The eBay phenomenon – what it means Page
  • Writers on e-business group Internet processes into four categories, using this grid:
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  Topic 6

  5 Online shopping – a beginner's guide

  • 5 Online shopping – a beginner's guide Page
  • Buying goods and services online used to be a minority activity – the preserve of the geeks and the ‘early adopters’ who are willing to try anything new. But in the last few years, online shopping has...
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  Topic 7

  6 How to do it – online shopping

  • General principles Page
  • In principle, online shopping is simple and involves the following stages:
  • 6.1 Buying a book online Page
  • I've chosen this because books (together with music CDs and DVDs) are often the first things that people buy online. In this case I'm after a book by an American academic named Lawrence Lessig. I'm not...
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  Topic 8

  7 What's going on with online shopping

  • 7.1 Worries about security of credit card and personal data Page
  • The Internet is intrinsically an insecure medium (for example, sending an unencrypted email is like sending a postcard through the mail – people equipped with the right equipment might be able to monitor...
  • 7.2 Difficulties in navigating e-commerce sites Page
  • People who are new to computing sometimes find the process of online ordering baffling and frustrating. They get ‘lost’ in the process – for example, by putting something into a virtual shopping cart and...
  • 7.3 Quality of customer service Page
  • This is probably the key determinant of customer satisfaction. Most online transactions go through flawlessly. But some don't. Goods fail to arrive, or are delayed, or delivered to the wrong address. Or...
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  Topic 9

  8 Online shopping – what it means

  • 8 Online shopping – what it means Page
  • Shopping online is already very big business, and is growing rapidly. This suggests that the concerns of consumers discussed earlier are being addressed by the industry. People wouldn't shop online if...
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  Topic 10

  References and Acknowledgements

  • Acknowledgements Page