E‑Commerce Types, Payments, UX and Social Media Strategies

Posted on Feb 23, 2026 in Business Administration and Management (BAM)

E‑commerce: Definition and Purpose

E‑COMMERCE

Commercial transactions conducted electronically on the Internet.

E‑Commerce Types

  • B2C: The exchange of products, information, or services between a business and consumers in a retail relationship. Transactions are conducted directly between a company and consumers who are the end users of its products, services, or information.
  • B2B: Exchange between businesses. Advantages: improved operations, reduced costs, and increased productivity.
  • B2B2C: Example: Business A pays Business B for users, leads, or sales generated by Business B’s website. Business A then uses Business B’s channels to locate prospective customers. Business B provides its customers with new and relevant services, facilitating an increased customer base and earned revenue for sold products and services (commercial alliances, affiliate networks, diagonal markets).
  • C2C: Consumers interact directly with other consumers. They exchange information such as:
    1. Expert knowledge: one person asks a question and gets replies from the community.
    2. Opinions: about companies and products (for example, epinions.com).
  • C2B: An individual uses the network to achieve better conditions in an offer presented by a company or group of companies.
  • Public administrations: Act as regulators, promoters, and users of e‑commerce, for example in public procurement or purchasing procedures with the administration.
  • Employee: Some authors include the company worker as a new element, motivating the emergence of new types of relationships (B2E, E2B, E2E).

Advantages and Disadvantages of E‑Commerce

Advantages

  • For companies: Increase in sales and competitiveness, reduction of costs, and improvement in communications.
  • For end users: Access to products that are difficult to find, better prices, chatbots, price comparison tools, etc.

Disadvantages

  • For companies: Users who can’t access online services, lack of product suitability, security concerns, and logistics challenges.
  • For end users: Communication speed and Internet costs, difficulty locating stores, and difficulties completing required information during the purchasing process.

Nuevo paradigma de comunicación / New Communication Paradigm

Nuevo Paradigma comunicación:

I: parla unidireccional (TV, cine, diarios, radio), comunica relaciones relevantes al consumidor. (TALK).

WE: per relacionar-se entre ells i tenir feedback entre ells. (THING).

They: blogs, foros, etc. (TRUST).

Social Media Posting Steps

  1. Know your target audience (demographics, location, behavior, interests).
  2. Where do they spend their time? (Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, etc.).
  3. Grow your following (network events, webinars, speaking).
  4. Create original content.
  5. Keep track of your leads.
  6. Ask for the sale.

12 hours a week (plan, implement, measure).

Elements of an Online Store Homepage

The main elements and functionalities that make up an online store are:

  • Legal information
  • Home page or ‘web showcase’
  • Product catalog
  • Shopping cart
  • Ordering / Checkout process
  • Data
  • Delivery method
  • Payment methods
  • User registration method

Usability and Accessibility

  • Accessibility: color and contrast; custom ‘not found’ (404) page.
  • Identity: font size and spacing, company logo; homepage should be digestible in 5 seconds.
  • Navigation: avoid intrusive Flash and excessive ads.
  • Content

Electronic Payment Systems

  • Digital wallets (PayPal, Alipay)
  • Credit and debit cards (Visa, MasterCard)
  • Bank transfers
  • Direct debit
  • Invoice
  • Virtual cards and currency
  • Coupons and store gift cards

E‑Billing

E‑billing is the practice by which invoices or bills are electronically delivered or presented to customers, rather than being sent by post.

Advantages: cost savings, efficiency, increased security.

Requirements: electronic format, digital signature, telematic transmission (e.g., email).

Cloud Computing

Simply put, cloud computing is the delivery of computing services—including servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence—over the Internet (“the cloud”) to offer faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale. Types: private, public, hybrid cloud.

UF2

Web 2.0

These are programs and services of the Internet that can be modified by the user, whether content, presentation, or both.

  • Objectives: transparency, utility, participation, loyalty.
  • Online marketing tools: banners, blogs, podcasts, wikis, etc.

Landing Pages

A landing page is a page someone lands on after clicking an online marketing call-to-action.

  • Headline: catch visitors’ attention so they continue reading the message.
  • Selling image/video: evoke positive feelings in the visitor; the image or video must be related to the message.
  • Form: the objective is that the visitor leaves their data.
  • Call to action: a button for visitors to either purchase something or send information.
  • Benefits: summarize the most relevant information and benefits of your product or service.
  • Second call to action
  • Testimonials: testimonials from past customers help convince the visitor that your service or product is high quality and beneficial.

Digital Portfolio

A digital portfolio is a computer-based collection of student performance over time. Portfolios make classroom learning more accessible to parents, administrators, and other district support staff because they provide a window into student learning.

Newsletter Best Practices

  1. Sender name
  2. Subject line
  3. Include your company logo
  4. Well-written content summary
  5. Compressed images
  6. Send to targeted list segments
  7. One or more CTA buttons
  8. Copyright notice
  9. Physical mailing address
  10. Unsubscribe link