高頓網(wǎng)校小編為各位ACCA學(xué)員整理了科目重點知識點輔導(dǎo)，希望大家查漏補缺，對考試有所幫助。        E-COMMERCE
　　by Jim Stone 01 May 2005
　　E-commerce is now synonymous with the Internet. Users - private or corporate - can communicate with web-based online stores using a web browser such as Microsoft Explorer or Netscape Communicator. An Internet store provides all the facilities a customer needs, including a product catalogue, a virtual shopping basket, and a secure credit card payment system.
　　In theory, the Internet has no geographical, political or temporal boundaries. It has a common infrastructure available to all. The universal availability of access to the Internet, while not radically changing logical processes, has created new opportunities and removed some of the physical limitations of traditional methods of conducting business.
　　CAT Paper 5 and ACCA Qualification Paper F1 students may be interested in the social and employment consequences of e-commerce. For Paper P3 candidates, e-commerce is now a weapon of competitive strategy, offering the possibility of new products and services, more efficient ways of performing traditional business processes, and new distribution channels.
　   BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS (B2B)
　　E-COMMERCE
　　E-commerce can be simply defined as conducting business transactions over electronic networks by way of linked computer systems. When the concept was originally introduced, it was envisaged that it would mainly involve business organisations linking their computer systems to conduct business with each other more speedily, efficiently and economically.
　　B2B e-commerce is well-established and is still a fast-growing area. Examples include companies linking to their suppliers to facilitate Just-In-Time (JIT) stock control. To enable this to happen, participating companies have had to agree on interface and application standards. Many office equipment and consumable suppliers can now take orders online and provide direct delivery to business customers.
　　One of the key drivers associated with B2B e-commerce is the overhaul of inefficient trading processes. Companies can link directly to suppliers, check availability of products, and then place orders and track shipments without delay or human assistance. In an increasingly competitive world, the best businesses are using new technologies to clarify customer demand, target marketing efforts more precisely, tighten business processes, and investigate new methods of distribution.
　　BUSINESS-TO-CONSUMER (B2C)
　　E-COMMERCE
　　The volume of B2B e-commerce has been overtaken in the last five years by the growth of consumer e-commerce applications as the general public (B2C) increasingly conduct business over networks with commercial and public sector organisations. The catalyst for B2C e-commerce has been the growth in the number of people who have access to both a home computer and the Internet. Most e-commerce applications are now Internet-based, trading goods and services. Other terms used to refer to this practice include e-business, e-tailing and e-trading.
　　BUSINESS ACTIVITIES
　　Commerce refers to the activities in which an organisation or individual engages in order to complete a transaction. Most stages in the lifecycle of a product or service can be conducted in an e-commerce environment. For example, a book retailer might undertake the following e-commerce activities:
　　market research
　　advertising
　　providing product information
　　contacting customers
　　taking orders
　　tracking shipping
　　receiving and processing payments
　　ordering stock from publishers.
　　The list of activities or logical processes does not differ significantly from the list of business activities that the organisation has always carried out. The difference is that the company can conduct its retail business by using computers and telecommunications technologies instead of, or in addition to, operating stores.