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the customer’s bank approves on the fund transfer and a fund notification is sent to the customer about
the total fund that was transferred into the shop owner’s bank account, therefore, the supermarket’s
computer system make changes and updates the stocks that are available at the shop.
HERE ARE TOP TWO EXAMPLES OF AN ONLINE COMMERCE SERVICE
*SHOPPING
*AUCTION
*BANKING
ONLINE SHOPPING
Online shopping is basically a form of retail over the
internet. Customers can browse products on a
business’s website, add products to a virtual
shopping cart, and then securely transfer money
from their bank account to the retailer (EFTPS). It is
a popular service which has grown rapidly in recent
years due to the expansion of the internet, and it
provides customers with a great amount of choices
between products, offering many different color
choices as well as lots of different sizes that may not
be available or in stock in the high street outlets and a variety of different retailers. This can be a useful
service for those who may not have time in their busy schedules to go shopping, as it allows these
people to order required products, and have them brought straight to their doorstep. Online shopping
features real-time information, for example to check whether or not an item is in stock, which is such
information that is live from the retailer, so stocks can be tracked in this way, as the consumer knows
how much of the item is available for purchase. In 2016, an estimated 1.61 billion people worldwide
purchase goods online. Global e-retail sales amounted to 1.9 trillion U.S. dollars and projections show a
growth of up to 4.06 trillion U.S. dollars by 2020. In Asia Pacific, e-retail sales accounted for 12.1 percent
of retail sales in 2016 but only for 1.8 percent of retail sales in the Middle East and Africa. In recent
years, mobile shopping has been on the rise, with customers increasingly using their mobile devices for
various online shopping activities. According to a March 2016 study regarding mobile shopping
penetration worldwide, 46 percent of internet users in the Asia Pacific region and 28 percent of those in
North America had purchased products via a mobile device, whether smartphone or tablet computer. As
of the fourth quarter of 2016, desktop PCs still accounted for the majority of global e-retail orders but
smartphones are the number one device in terms of retail website visits.
During a 2017 survey, 11 percent of online shoppers stated that they shopped online via
smartphone on a weekly basis. Amazon.com is one of the most popular and well-known example of
an online shopping platform. Founded in 1995, the Seattle based site started out as an online
bookstore, but soon began expanding its product range towards other retail goods and consumer
electronics. As of 2015, Amazon is the worldwide leading e-retailer, as well as the number one web
only retailer globally.
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