Electronic Market Place Technologies

•  Electronic   Data Interchange

1. EDI is the exchange of well-defined business transactions in a computer-process able format.EDI provides a collection of standard message formats to    exchange data between organizations computers via any electronic service.
2. In 1979, the American National standard Institute (ANSI) chartered the aggregated standards committee X12, electronic data interchange to develop uniform national standards for electronic interchange of business transactions.

•   On-line Networks and services

1. On-line services provide access to information, entertainment, communications and transaction services.  In general, this term refers to networks by companies such as America Online, Compu Serve and Prodigy.
3. v  The Public switched telephone network (PSTN) is the typical distribution system, cable networks, satellite, wireless networks and the unused, portion of FM Radio and broadcast TV signals may also be used.  It also includes other specialized (Commercial) Networks.

•  CD-ROM and Hybrids

1. The Multimedia and storage capabilities of CD-ROMs and the growth in the penetration of CD-ROM drives in both business and home PCs are the reasons why business-to-business and consumer marketers sought to use the CD-ROM as a marketing vehicle in the recent past.
2.  CD-ROMs can store large amounts (650 MB or More) of data, in text and/or graphical form.  In addition, the CD-ROM provides the ability to add sound, photos and full-motion video to a marketing interaction beyond what is offered by the On-line medium over the telecommunication links.
3.   Because of their Cost-effectiveness, CD-ROM catalogue, with the products of either one or more multiple marketers, have become popular.

• The INTERNET: Web Commerce

1. The Internet is quickly becoming a popular commercial domain for business marketers, driven by 
2. the advent of low-cost commercial point – and- click internet software and WWW browsers.
3.   The Fastest growing part of the internet at this time is the WWW.  The web’s ease of access, as well as its multimedia capabilities and downloadable applications (e.g. with Java), enable marketers to create compiling and enticing advertising and marketing environments.
4.   The Internet offers an extensive and demographically attractive potential audience, especially for business-to-business marketers.

• Screen phones

1. Screen phones are similar to regular phones but have advanced features, such as credit card readers, small screens and keypads that can be used for variety of interactive, transactional and informative services.
2.  Typical services include home banking, home shopping and electronic white Pages.
3.  This technology is used more commonly in Europe, where consumers can get up-to-date information on many things from a list of specialty restaurants to train information.
4.  The screen-phone’s primary advantage for electronic commerce is that it is based on a device that consumers are familiar with and are comfortable using.

• KIOSKS

1. Kiosks are displays used to provide merchandise information in a remote location, such as a retail store or shopping mall.
2.  Kiosks employ a variety of technologies to deliver multimedia marketing information.
3. Most kiosks allow the consumers to order product directly from the unit by using a magnetic credit card reader, touch screen, or keypad Kiosks’ primary advantages are their large storage capacity and multimedia capabilities, including full-motion video, sound, graphics and text. However, kiosks have not proven to be an Effective medium to support transaction-based interactions. It seems that consumers are not comfortable with the technology or the process of buying merchandise through a kiosk.

• Interactive television and video dial tone

1. The television is a ubiquitous electronic home appliance, interactive television, When available, enables consumers to view advertising about specific products and place orders through the television screen using a remote control and a special set-top box attached to the Cable television line in to the home
2. There has been interest in bringing this technology to the market in recent years. The key Reason interactive television has generated interest among marketers, technology developers, Cable TV, and telephone companies is that it has a vast potential audience

•  Web TV

1. A new technology, called Web TV by some and interacting by others, was seeing Deployment at press time. This approach is yet another vehicle for electronic commerce. Web TV illustrates the fusion or convergence of technologies, eliminating previous lines of demarcation.
2. Inter casting  is a technology developed by Intel that intertwines WWW pages with TV Broad casts With  it, video producers can backup their real-time broad casts with all the resources of the internet.
3. For example, a sports fan could call up batting averages to a window on the screen of a base Ball game; news programs could provide background analysis for those who want to go beyond A 2 to 3 minute story; advertisers could offer viewers the opportunity to purchase their products or obtain more information about them.
4.  It can be considered a new medium; however, it is expected to complement rather than supplant existing media. It is being positioned as a medium that combines the digital power of the PC, the global interactivity of the internet, and the rich programming of television.

•  Interactive banking

1. Many banks are offering another form of electronic commerce known as interactive banking. This generally refers to methods that allow their customers to conduct some of their bank business over the phone or with a PC.  Using a Touch-Tone telephone, customers can check their account balance, pay bills, order statements and so forth.
2.  PC finance software such as Intuit’s Quicken also refers the links to blanks that can accomplish the same tasks. Home banking has been offered for over a decade with mixed results. Besides technology shock for the average user, users have had to contend with banking fees. The near-term future of home banking is unclear at this time.
3. At the other end of the spectrum, banks without branches are now becoming available on the internet. For example: Atlanta Internet Bank (AIB) offers interest-bearing checking, direct deposit, and Electronic bill payment over the web.  The bank uses applications behind the web server to hook into existing legacy systems to support the traditional banking functions.
4. The bank opened for business in late 1996 and had 200 initial customers.  In general, however, most banks have been slow to offer all the elements of virtual banking, in part because few development tools exist.
5.  To facilitate banks move toward web-based transaction processing and integration with personal finance  management applications, portable toolkit-based CGI- like application must be developed by software houses to facilitate interworking with current software applications.