Tuesday, June 10, 2008

The history and evolution of E-commerce

As what i still remember when i was in primary school that personnel computer already existed at that time but not many people own a pc unlike now where every house have atleast one computer at home. Thus, only now i know what is e-commerce about after studying about it in college and university. Belows are the information about e-commerce that i found through the internet and search engine.

(History)
E-commerce began before personal computers were prevalent and has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry. History of ecommerce is unthinkable without Amazon and Ebay which were among the first Internet companies to allow electronic transactions and are two of the biggest names in e-commerce are launched: Amazon.com and eBay.com in 1995.

History of ecommerce dates back to the invention of the very old notion of “sell and buy”, electricity, cables, computers, modems, and the Internet. Ecommerce became possible in 1991 when the Internet was opened to commercial use. Since that date, thousands of businesses have taken up residence at web sites.

There have been several key steps in the history of e-commerce. At first, on the year 1984 the term ecommerce meant the process of execution of commercial transactions electronically with the help of the leading technologies such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) which gave an opportunity for users to exchange business information and do electronic transactions. This guaranteed that companies would be able to complete transactions with one another reliably. The ability to use these technologies appeared in the late 1970s and allowed business companies and organizations to send commercial documentation electronically.

In 1992 cmpuserve offers online retail products to its customers. This gives people the first chance to buy things off their computer. Netscape arrived in 1994 and providing users a simple browser to surf the Internet and a safe online transaction technology called Secure Sockets Layer. Although the Internet began to advance in popularity among the general public in 1994, it took approximately four years to develop the security protocols (for example, HTTP) and DSL which allowed rapid access and a persistent connection to the Internet.

For the year 1998 with the captured attention of the use of Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) which exist in year 1989. It was designed primarily for video and provides the high downstream rates needed for streaming video on personal computer users who need high-speed access to the Internet and corporate networks from residences and remote offices.This prompts people to spend more time, and money, online.


(Evolution)
Now it is usual to seen people spend alot of time on online whether for fund, work, or study. This increase the capability of the internet. The access for online shopping and e-banking become very commons nowadays. Business also can comply throught internet and has been concern for the retailers. This is because it save more cost such as tax and attract more customer without any additional cost and activities such as promotion.

Todays there are 5 largest and most famous worldwide Internet retailers. There are Amazon, Dell, Staples, Office Depot and Hewlett Packard. According to statistics, the most popular categories of products sold in the World Wide Web are music, books, computers, office supplies and other consumer electronics.

In 2000 a great number of business companies in the United States and Western Europe represented their services in the World Wide Web. At this time the meaning of the word ecommerce was changed. People began to define the term ecommerce as the process of purchasing of available goods and services over the Internet using secure connections and electronic payment services.

Although the dot-com collapse in 2000 led to unfortunate results and many of ecommerce companies disappeared, the “brick and mortar” retailers recognized the advantages of electronic commerce and began to add such capabilities to their web sites. By this consumers can easily search through a large database of products and services and able to see actual prices, build an order over several day. Customers can compare prices with a click of the mouse and buy the selected product at best prices. Beside this, the web and its search engines provide a way to be found by customers without expensive advertising campaign. Even small online shops can reach global markets.
According to all available data, ecommerce sales continued to grow in the next few years and, by the end of 2007, ecommerce sales accounted for 3.4 percent of total sales. In 2008, the domain Amazon.com attracted about 615 million customers every year. The most popular feature of the web site is the review system, i.e. the ability for visitors to submit their reviews and rate any product on a rating scale from one to five stars.

History of ecommerce is a history of a new, virtual world which is evolving according to the customer advantage. It is a world which we are all building together brick by brick, laying a secure foundation for the future generations.

Local E-commerce success

I had heard in my lecture and tutorial class about the successes and failures of companies in e-commerce but all the examples that was mention there wasn't even one that was a local company. I have been thinking why didn't my lecturer and tutor gave a local example since we are in Malaysia and we ought to know about it. They should have included a local company example even though it might be in a smaller scale, the impact is not so great in the world, not many people knew about it or it's achievement is nothing compare to the examples of the international companies given by them.

It might seems so that way but we as Malaysian should be proud that there are local companies who tried to venture into e-commerce knowing that it is like an uncharted sea where danger lurks everywhere during the late 90s. Their success might be not be much in the eyes of the world but in Malaysia, its' success mean a lot to all Malaysian who are trying to venture into e-commerce. It shows Malaysian to can be successful in e-commerce. So i try looking for article or news that might talk about our local e-commerce success and at last i found it in our own local online newspaper Thestar.com.my. Here is a part of the article:

"YOU'VE probably heard a lot about dotcoms over the years – from the ones that were hugely successful, to the ones that were absolute failures.

But most of these companies you hear about are probably not Malaysian.

Though on a much smaller scale than the United States, Malaysia has its own share of e-commerce companies, online retailers and various e-businesses.

These companies have been around since the Internet hit our shores in the early- to mid-nineties.

And just like their global counterparts, many were also wiped out when the dotcom bubble burst in 2000.

A few survivors, like Martin Cheah, remain, to tell their stories."

In the article, it mention a few local companies that was successful in e-commerce. 1 of them is a company that i knew. XL-Shop Dot Com Sdn Bhd is a toy shop that have been around for almost 11 years. It venture into e-commerce in 1999. Till now it had been successful, me as a customer can be sure of it. Even though i knew about it's website when i was studying in KTAR in 2005, i had always wanted to collect figurines since i was young but i just don't have the cash then. But i only started collecting these figurines in 2007 when i had saved some money to spend on things that i like. The link to the website is http://www.xl-shop.com/. Here is a few screenshots of the website of xl-shop.








I had bought a few figurines from xl-shop. Even though i don't purchase it online but i relied on its website for the latest update of products that xl-shop will be getting. With those information, i know when to go to their shop to purchase the figurines that i want. They have 3 shops located in Midvalley Megamall, Ampang and Berjaya Times Square. It's customer doesn't consist of Malaysian only but also foreign customers from other countries. Being able to draw in foreign customers is because of e-commerce. This shows how xl-shop have been successful in attracting foreign buyers to buy from them, our own Malaysian online shop. It had received many positive feedback from local and foreign buyers for its services.

The facts that why it is able to continue successfully and not failed like the rest had already been mentioned in the article. Just to elaborate some points, first impression really matters. The first time i enter its website, i like the design, it looks very neat and have a lot of attractive information display in it. It made me want to check it's products. The best part of it is that it is constantly being updated by the staffs if there are new products arriving. Their forum is also a very good place to get information about toys and also to talk to the members of the forum about random stuffs because it's members are very active especially the staffs. It's products price are also cheaper compare to other online toy shop. Given that a figurine already cost me Rm200+, imagine how much it would cost me if i bought online from toy shop from other countries.
If possible i would like to upload my figurines pictures to the blog but let's just see how it goes.

So to end my post, no matter how insignificant it might be local e-commerce success should not be ignore, new entrepreneurs who want to venture into e-commerce should try to emulate their success. International companies success are hard to follow but local companies success are more feasible to achieve. Their success can paved way for future local companies in e-commerce. MALAYSIAN BOLEH!

Monday, June 2, 2008

Ong Guat Tee

Hello everyone nice to meet you all. I am ONG GUAT TEE from Taiping, Perak which is known as a raining town. Recently, I am pursuing a Degree programme in Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman.


I would like to share about my future ambition. My dream is to become a famous artist and singer. Wah such a impossible ambition you guy thinking?? That is great influence from my sister-in-law who is an international artist. You guy wanna know who?? hehe..... it is private and confidential information. I get motivated and decide to fulfill my dream in future. Singing is my favorite interest as I prefer to sing a lot of songs include Korea, Hokkien, Japan, Mandarin, English and Malay song. I have been join the singing competition long times ago in previous school. As I get an award from AJK associate with my school and felt very happy. But, It is history from my past experiene when I am still young. I felt relax and get out of stress when I am singing. I like go to KTV as I may enjoy the environment there. Normally, I would be go to one of the famous KTV house in my hometown. Apart from singing I also like to swim which enables relax my mind. I am also prefer watch football world cup as it is so excited when one country fight with another country. For instance, Turkey VS Germany. Waoo... so challenging.



The popular website I log on are http://www.tvb.com/, TVB broadcast TV Ltd, http://www.mysoju.com/, http://www.crunchyroll.com/, http://www.genting.com.my/, http://www.airasia.com/, http://www.ocbc.com/, I do observe artist from HK in one of the website. Those miss HK are very beautiful and their background. These can be found on TVB website. I enjoy so much to travel around the world include London, UK, Korea, HK, China, Hatyai, Japan. That is the reason I always access AirAsia as many low cost airfare package available. Sure I also log on into bank website to look what is certain bank useful information. It is applicable when people talk about e-payment that can make via e-banking services.


There are a lots of place you all can visit such as Muzium, Zoo Taiping. People most likely go for mountain climbing. I do go mountain climbing with my family members during holidays.


You will be know me better if you join me..friendly la..not just influence by out apperance..


You are welcome to join at my friendster email add:
cindyong26@live.com.my

Teoh Sook Ang

My name is TEOH SOOK ANG. I am a girl that has been wearing spectacles since primary school because i love to watch tv since i was a kid. But i despise wearing spectacles because it does not look good on me. I come from Batu Caves, Selangor. Many women do not like to disclosed their age, it is also true for me so try guess my age.:P I am a student studying in UTAR and now i am taking an accounting course because i loved numbers. I just can not live without them. Lol. I come from a chinese family consists of both my parents, two brothers and one elder sister. I am the youngest girl in my family as usual the youngest is the spoilt one but i don't think i am. My parents give equal attention to all my siblings so no one would be jealous of the others.

My hobby is ermm...many...but the most i like is listen to musics and any other activities that can help me to relax. I like to listen to chinese song, english song or even japanese song. Other activities that can help people to relax is through reading a novel or book. For me, it is just a cup a tea in the afternoon while listening to soft music that can relax my mind. The first time I read a novel, it took me almost a year to complete the whole book. Contrast to that, i can read finish a comic book in just half an hour. I prefer reading newpapers than reading a novel.

Let me tell you that the website that I usually visit is
http://www.yahoo.com, http://www.google.com, http://www.baidu.com, http://www.emag.com.my, and www.wikipedia.com. As for using yahoo and google website, it provides me a search engine which can help me to gain extra knowledge for my study in UTAR. Other then that, wikipedia website is a useful website that can give a lot of useful information to complete my assignment. And for baidu website, it provides me a place to download some sweet songs so that I can listen to it during my leisure time. Sometime I also surf to emag website to read some free magazines and newspapers that can help me to get to know latest news. My top 5 internet activities is chatting with friends, checking mail or sending e-mail, downloading ringtone, songs, software, and playing online games.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Henry Wong

As i had posted in the first post of this blog in which i wrote that in week 2 all of the my group members including me will be posting about a short post about ourselves. So, here goes nothing. Hope that I be the first in my group to post.

I am Henry Wong Hean Nang. You should have know my name by now if you have read the first post in the blog. Currently studying in University Tunku Abdul Rahman a.k.a UTAR in Sg.Long in Malaysia. Hope you know where Malaysia is now in the map. I am a chinese. My religion is Christian but i hardly go to church now. Heh, i feel so guilty about it. I am 20 years old. I feel so old never thought that time pass so fast. I live in Subang Jaya, Selangor with my family consisting of my parents and a younger sister. Normally i stay in the apartment i rent in Sg.Long during weekdays and i be back home in the weekends. This is so i do not have to travel daily to study. Studying is already tiring adding travelling to it would just make my life miserable.

Anyway back to my hobbies and interests, i like reading manga a.k.a japanese comics, i have been collecting since i was 10 years olds. My collections would be atleast 200 plus books or more but i seems to have lost track of it too lazy to care about it. I like watching animes too started when i was 16 years old that was also the time when i got my first broadband access. Ah sweet old memories. I like reading books/novels too especially the historical ones about world war 2. I think i have read almost 10 books regarding world war 2. I also read novels written by Tolkien and Dan Brown plus others non-fictional and fiction novels. My university is lacking of interesting novels. I loved to play sports especially basketball. Started when i was 15 years old that time i was quite chubby and exercise was the way to go. I was not fond about basketball at first but gradually i start to like it where i would play basketball almost everyday. So now thanks to it, i am no longer chubby. :) Beside that i am also an avid gamer of video and computer games, can't really call myself a hardcore gamer but i have play a game with a total time of almost 200 hours and i have played continuously for more than 15 hours before. Now and then i would go out with my friends to the FTZ in ss15 in Subang Jaya, it is the best cyber cafe in Subang Jaya.

The top 5 websites that i always go is http://www.gametrailers.com/, http://www.gamefaqs.com/, http://www.animesuki.com/, http://www.mangatraders.com/, and thestar.com.my. Gametrailers and gamefaqs are gamewebsite which i like to visit because to keep myself update with the lastest games. Mangatraders and animesuki is where i keep track of the manga and anime that i read and watch. Thestar is where i read about news of what is happening in my country because i cannot afford to buy the local newspaper. Imagine having to fork out RM1.20 everyday, that would be RM6 for 5 days. God that could have been my dinner for 2 days. The top 5 activities i always when i am online is downloading animes and manga, reading online news, visit forums, reading game faqs online and downloading musics. Heh, i seems to be a typical leecher to the online community. All download and no upload.

Well that is just a small information about me if you want to know more feel free to ask me. Don't be shy.

Tan Ai Ling

My name is Tan Ai Ling who is one of a student from group 9, currently studying in UTAR at Sg.long.

Now, let's talk about me. I am a chinese. I come from Melaka which is a historical city. It's famous for its food and history. Because i am living far from home, i have to rent a room and share with my friend in Sg.Long. It gives me the opportunity to be independent. I also take this chance to learn how to live and communicate with others and control my emotions but this sound a bit hard for me because when i feel angry or sad, i don't know who or where i can express my emotions. Studying in Sg.Long is not as fun as studying in KTAR. It was much fun during my time in KTAR

My horoscope is Libra and i am a female who likes to listen to music, singing and watching movies. Beside that when i feel bored or tired but could not fall a sleep i would surf the web search for anything that would catch my attention. Sg.Long is located quite far from the city centre. The lack of transportation to the city centre is few and travelling is a hassle . So most of the time i would go to JUSCO. Me and my friends would enjoy ourselves in Jusco by watching movies or singing karaoke in Green Box. I also like to read comics. Sometimes i would surf the web to download comics but because the internet speed is so slow like a turtle. Therefore, i would end up buying the original book to read. Beside that i would also download the lastest movies and musics.

I usually will vistit these five website. There are http://www.google.com/, http://www.yahoo.com/, http://www.miniclip.com/, http://www.baidu.com/ and msn. These website play important role and has link to my daily activities and studies. Other than this when doing m research for the assignment i offen go into the google.com that provide many material and useful data. This help me save alot of work. Beside that, when i'am free i will check my e-mail at yahoo.com which very messy and chart with my friend with msn. Sometimes the e-mail send to me is very funny and interested and make me laugh and feel good. Because i'am a talkative person so i like to chit-chat with my friend on msn especially my friend on hometown and these let me know their situation. Because i'am a game player also thus i will visit miniclip.com which is the web for play a free online game but most of the time its run very slow. This situation also happen when i want to download the song but what can i do! i had to have patient to wait its for finish.

That's all about me.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Introduction

Hi to all readers.
I am Henry Wong Hean Nang. I am new to blogging. This reason i started this blog is because of my university assignment which required me to blog about e-commerce. So i had created this blog with my group members who are Teoh Sook Ang, Tan Ai Ling and Ong Guat Tee from Tutorial Group 9. We are from Malaysia, you know the country which is located above Singapore. Seriously, i don't understand how people don't know where Malaysia is located eventhough it is bigger than Singapore. I guess this shows the lacks of advertisement of Malaysia. :P
This is my first post, i am bit nervous about it as i don't really know what to talk about now. I am just writting down whatever is coming into mind. It doesn't seem that hard but i have that feeling that i am afraid of people reading my posts. How ironic as i would still have to post if i intend to graduate.
So back to the blog, this is the first week of my studies and the week this blog is created. Currently nothing will be posted in the first week. The next week which will be the second week, all the members of my group assignments will posting information about themselves that includes me too. Starting the third week, that when we will be posting our thoughts or any informations on e-commerce in Malaysia but we will try to get informations regarding internationals news on e-comerce. The duration of this blog is from the third week till the seventh week after that it will be dead. Maybe.
So i hope that you readers would come back in the following week and take a look at our posts.
If anyone have any advises which i could improve my blogging skills do tell so. That's all for this first. If you read till the end, THANK YOU!