E-Commerce

Electronic commerce is all about doing business on the web, this may involve the buying and selling of goods and services over the Internet. The amount of business conducted over the internet has increased significantly over the years. In fact, According to the national survey a majority of Maltese inhabitants have internet access (57% of respondents), of which 48% of those having internet access opted to purchase online*.

The system we propose allows a very versatile and flexible way of conducting business.

In today’s competitive world E-Commerce provides many benefits and advantages that is why many businesses have opted to make full use of this possibility. This system is very attractive because it can help increase sales and profits while it drastically decreases costs. Even better still, it expands business possibilities in the international market, thus permitting companies to reach narrow markets that would be physically impossible or very difficult to reach.

E-Commerce is not just about selling real products online but it also creates the opportunity of having digital content, electronic funds transfer, electronic share trading, electronic bills of lading, commercial auctions, collaborative design and engineering, online sourcing, public procurement, supply chain management, direct consumer marketing, online transaction processing, inventory management systems, automated data collection systems and even after-sales services.

Some of the benefits a seller can enjoy through e-commerce are:

• Cost reduction: high printing and mailing costs are extensively reduced or eliminated
• Customisation: possibility of creating customised products or services giving companies a greater competitive advantage.
• Up to date company material: changing information can be immediately corrected and updated thus information is always current.

E-Commerce provides the possibility to have the following on a website:

• Product descriptions and prices
• Conditions of delivery and orders
• Ordering of products and services
• Payment order via credit card through the website
• Credit card verification in real time
• Invoice printout
• Immediate delivery of digital content

*Malta Communications Authority (MCA) National Survey on individual E-Commerce usage across Malta, September 2006