Session 8

E-Commerce (Presentations)

820:240

Environment, Technology, and Society

Summary of Presentations

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Students Summaries

• E-Commerce - Some advantages for the business are the lower transaction costs, larger purchases per transaction, more consumer information that is available, and the success when relieve pain points for the customer. The advantages for the customers are more information is available, they can shop in a variety of ways, they can compare prices for different venders, they receive better customer service, and there are confirmation pages to confirm your purchase. E-Commerce adjusts more quickly to consumer demand, very convient, available 24/7, consumer does not have to deal with the traffic, the sales atmosphere. Some consumer pointers to be aware of are the know the company you are dealing with, know what you are buying, the amount you are paying, the methods of payment, know the warranties, return policies, guarantees, and terms of deliver.

  A more specific E-Commerce is E-Bay - It started in 1995. It was founded because of the founder's wife collected pez dispensors, and about $9 billion dollars were sold this year. A lot of questions arose during today's discussion. Should fire-arms be sold on E-Bay? If sold to a felon, who is responsible? the buyer, seller, and/or e-bay? After making an E-Bay purchase, there are customer evaluation surveys. So, if a customer is not pleased with there seller, he can write up a bad review on him/her.

  Design and Quality - Did you know that not all products are suitable for right and left handed people. Most products are made specifically for right-handed people. This poses an inconvience for left-handed people. Should designers be making products available for both right and left-handed people? Or would this cost the designer more money than it would bring in? Some products that are not suitable for the average left-handed person are can-openers, grapefruit spoons, scissors, chainsaws, bread knives. Next time you are in Wal-Mart as you are walking through the aisles, you should look to see how many products are actually made for both left and right-handed people.

• E-Commerce
  E-commerce is defined as a way of completing real-time business via telecommunications networks. It includes online shopping. The industry was preceded by two phases: the communication phase and the information phase. We are presently in the distribution phase. Some of the benefits of e-commerce include lower costs, increase of information, larger selection and better customer service. E-commerce is more convenient, allows consumers to access a larger market and provide more product reviews.

  The Supreme Court has given e-commerce businesses the option to charge sales tax online, and this will probably become a common aspect of e-commerce in the future.

  Design Quality
  A volunteer was asked to open a can with an everyday can opener...with his left hand. He couldn't do it. Left handed people face many design problems. Items such as scissors, chain saws, coffee mugs and knifes can be difficult to use for lefties.

  An important question is whether or not designers should focus on this market.

  E-bay
  E-bay began in 1995 as a way to find PEZ dispensers. The online auction site works by registered sellers putting items up for bid, and registered buyers bidding and purchasing them. E-bay is one of the most successful of all e-commerce sites.

  There are some problems and legal responsibilities to consider with E-bay. Issues such as selling firearms online, regulation of auction items, sale of drugs and pornography online and the sale of stolen property must be considered when thinking about E-bay.

• PRESENTATION 1: E COMMERCE

  E commerce benefits businesses and customers. Some advantages of E commerce are convenience (24/7 service), less traffic, no sales atmosphere, and speed. Along with the advantages there are, of course, disadvantages to E commerce as well. These disadvantages include less security, less privacy, shipping costs, you must have a computer, and it is a less traditional shopping experience. Some people actually enjoy the shopping experience and don't want that deprived from them. It is part of their lives.

  E commerce has several different payment options that customers can choose from. These include debit/credit cards, personal checks, cashiers checks, and money orders. A helpful hint for people that will conduct business via E commerce is that they should know who they are dealing with, what they are buying, they should clearly understand the terms, conditions, and costs.

  If a person has a complaint about a transaction done via E commerce they can contact the Better Business Bureau and other similar types of organizations. E commerce forecasts a future in the market of small businesses as well as health care.

  PRESENTATION 2: DESIGN QUALITY

  Many products aren't designed for left handers. Such products include scissors, chainsaws, coffee mugs, (you can't see the design), knives, grapefruit spoons, cork screws, ladles, a computer mouse, and guitars. A question arises out of the fact that there are products made specifically for right handers. That question is should designers consider the left handed population? It would be costly, but the products play a role in everyday lives. There would be higher production costs, but there would be higher sales volumes. Designers do have to consider costs when making a product.

  First time users of products mostly only rely on their knowledge of the world. If our class is typical of the rest of the world, about one out of every eight people are left handed. Every design should be questioned and quality should always be measured.

  PRESENTATION 3: Ebay

  Ebay started in 1995 be a man whose wife was a collector of pez dispensers and wanted to find other collectors of the product. Ebay survived the dot com crash. Forbes magazine says that there are billions of dollars in sales annually by Ebay.

  When selling a product on Ebay you have to decide how much money you want to make, how much money you would be content with, and then make your minimum bid be what you would be content with. You also need a picture of your product so people can actually see what you are buying.

  Ethical questions that arise from the selling of products on Ebay are whether or not firearms should be sold on Ebay, whether or not pornography should be sold, and whether or not drug paraphanelia should be sold. Ebay blew up fast, and it was difficult to categorize items that were for sale, but a system was devised. Ebay has a rating system where you can rank buyers and sellers on quality of product, fast payment and so forth. This way a person can know if they want to do business with another person.

• We had three presentations on Thursday, two of which dealt with E Commerce and one which dealt with Design Quality. The first presentation on E Commerce basically described it and how it is used, defining it as a way of completing real-time business transactions via telecommunication networks. She went on to desribe the phases of E Commerce (communication, information, and distribution phases), who uses it (business to business, business to customer, etc.), its advantages (convenience, larger markets, product reviews, etc.), its disadvantages (security, privacy, shipping charges, etc.), and some of the payment options (credit card, debit, check, E Wallets, Escrow Services, etc.). The second E Commerce presentation focused on E-Bay, describing it as a market for people to buy and sell different items. He described how it works through the process of registering, buying, and selling items, and how the bidding works. He also talked about some of the controversial issues connected with E Bay such as whether guns should be allowed to be sold, stolen property that is sold, and other legal aspects. The third presentation was over Design Quality with a focus on how most products are made for a right-handed user. She listed several things that are very difficult to use if you are left-handed such as a can opener, scissors, chain saw, ladle, shot guns, knives, and a computer mouse. In her presentation, she discussed whether or not companies could make an even larger profit by creating products adapted to left-handed people because their market would then be that much larger. She talked about the higher production costs being offset by the higher sales on the larger market. She also questioned whether the design was successful if it worked perfectly, but only for a right-handed user.

• We started class with a presentation on E-commerce. It was a powerpoint presentation that looked at the definition, evolution, why choose it, who uses it, advantages, disadvatages, payment options, and a guide for e-consumers. Next we had a presentation on design quality. She asked for a volunteer to demonstrate design quality. She asked the volunteer to open a can with a can opener left handed, this resulted in the inability to open the can. She focused primarily on how products do not fit the design for both right handed and left handed users. She talked about a can opener, chainsaw, coffee cups, guns, corkscrew, and notebooks. The third and final presentation was based on E-bay. He started out by discussing how e-bay got started. He then discussed some of the items on E-bay and the wide range of things you can get or sell on it. He than started a debate with the class on whether guns should be sold on e-bay. Ended on the fact that their are problems but he still feels like it is a great online company.