E-commerce and e-marketing applications in real estate

OMMERCE

E-Commerce

E- Commerce

E- Commerce

E-commerce revolution has immensely affected all the industries, including the real estate industry. By using websites the real estate agents can transmit the information about the properties to a wide range of people. In addition to that, it can also enable the real estate agents to set up information communication channels directly between the real estate agencies, investors and developers. By mass media advertisements, the retailers can target a huge audience, including a number of potential buyers. In this technique the agencies usually use a simplex, one way communication channel, to communicate with the audience. A single advertisement is generated for the entire market, therefore, it is cost efficient. (Jianliang et al., 2013)

E-commerce enables the real estate agents to have personal contact with their clients. By having an interaction with the clients, the agents can better understand their requirements and can provide them with properties that best match their requirements. This, in return, leads toward high customer satisfaction and enhanced customer loyalty. (Jianliang et al., 2013)

3. Business to Business

The small town websites shall use interactive tools or departments on their home page. This should be done to attract the consumers and to interact with them. These departments may include, News Gallery; which should include the E. newsletter and in addition to that it must also contain important news regarding the community or town, Image Gallery; it should contain images of important events that took place in the community and Utilities Section: it should enable the consumers to make utility payments and other registration payments such as licenses for businesses. The consumers can interact with the above mentioned departments in various ways, including subscription to newsletters, visits to image galleries and payment of utilities and attainment of licenses through utilities section. (Unknown, 2012)

Apart from the above mentioned departments a web site for a small town may consist of a calendar containing the dates for all upcoming events. In addition to that, a survey section which can be used to get the response of citizens regarding various issues and a registration section which may enable the citizens to get registered with the programs that the town is offering. (Unknown, 2012)

4. Social Networking

Social networking can be defined as the process of grouping individuals into specific groups on the basis of their preferences, communities and neighborhood. The online social network provides people with web space in which they can create their home pages. These networks also provide users with the basic communication facilities through which they can communicate with each other. Social networking, on the other hand, can be defined as the process of creation of social networks. This service also sponsors various social network activities such as blogs. (Whatissocialnetworking.com, 2010)

The online social networking is usually done through social networking sites such as, Facebook, my space and twitter. These sites usually function as an online community for the users of the internet. These sites provide you with an ability to socialize with a wide array of people. Depending on the kind of site, the people may be grouped on the basis of age, gender, ethnicity, education, income etcetera. Once you sign up with a social networking site, you can start socializing with others. You can read the profile pages of different people and can make friends with them. (Whatissocialnetworking.com, 2010)

Benefits of Social Networking

Social networking provides organizations, individuals and governments with a large number of benefits. Some of the major benefits of social networking are listed below; (Hashtags.org, 2013)

a) Increased Socialization: As people can come in contact with a large number of people, therefore, through social networking there can be a significant increase in the ratio of socialization. (Hashtags.org, 2013)

b) Marketing Benefits: organizations can benefit a lot by marketing through the social media. They can do this through viral marketing or online word of mouth. As people generally consider the advice of their associates influential, therefore, there is a probability that they will turn towards the product. (Hashtags.org, 2013)

c) Human Resource Benefits: When it comes to facilitating the human resource functions, the pioneering social platform is LinkedIn. It performs the tasks of matching deserving job seekers with potential employees. Hence enabling the organizations to cut costs related to the recruitment process. In addition to that is also saves time. (Hashtags.org, 2013)

d) Sales Benefit: The organizations can use the social media to build a reputation or goodwill. In addition to that, by conducting surveys and polls, they can get expert suggestions regarding their sales strategies. The schemes and benefits offered by organizations also get noticed on social media easily. A good example of this is Deal today's advertisements on Facebook. (Hashtags.org, 2013)

e) Enhanced Information: The companies can get enhanced and increased information regarding various commercial and business issues. The individuals, on the other hand, can also share and exchange information regarding various topics on social media. (Hashtags.org, 2013)

Dangers of Social Networking

Apart from the above discussed benefits, some dangers are also associated with social networking sites. These dangers are; through social networking sites, the computer hackers, who are good at writing and manipulating computer codes, may get an access to your computer. They may also download various unwanted software to your computer. Apart from that, the hackers who are good at exploiting social relations and personal contacts may trick you. Human beings are considered as a weak link in the cyber security networks, the social hackers, who are very good at manipulating people, design their tricks in a way that they appear harmless and legal to the people. In reality, falling for an online scam or a computer hack can prove out to be very dangerous for the individuals and for the organizations as well. Another risk associated with the social networking sites is lack of privacy and security. Once a person posts something on a social networking site, it no longer remains private. There is no guarantee for the security of privacy. Friends or the website itself, may, unintentionally, leak the private information regarding a user. Therefore, the more you post on a social networking site the more you become vulnerable to the risk associated with privacy. (FBI, 2011)

5. The Opt in Statement

The Opt in statements are the statements that ask the permission of the consumer regarding the promotional emails that the organizations intends to send them. The organization sends these emails by tracking the web activities of a consumer so that it can effectively analyze his or her preferences in a better manner. To track these activities the organization uses various tools, such as cookies and spyware. These tools are installed into the user's computer without his or her consent. Such marketing techniques lead towards an invasion of the user's privacy without his or her knowledge. All organizations, therefore, shall use an opt in statement, to get an affirmation from the users before sending any promotional tools to them or before invading their privacy. Some organizations use opt out statements, these statements require the users to remove the check from the permission box in order to stop the organizations from sending them promotional emails or from any potential invasion of privacy. The organizations shall use opt in statement instead of opt out statement as the users might not pay much attention to the opt out statement or they may forget to remove the check from the permission box. (Lai et al., 2003)

6. Advertising Regulations

Entering into an E-commerce business poses a major responsibility of compliance with the laws applicable on the online marketing and advertisement. The site owners, developers and retailers expanding the business through E-Commerce should be well aware of all those applicable laws and regulations and updates made in them from time to time so as to be in a safe and secure position. Various laws and regulations have been designed and implemented to protect the customers/consumers, protect fraud and deceptive transactions as well as to protect the retailers and E-business men from fake customers and fraudesters. (Beal, 2010)

There are many forms of online advertisements (including emails, running Ads on various websites, pop-ups etc.). E-mails being the most famous and used method of online advertising is governed by many laws and regulations. And to effectively utilize this mode of marketing the E-commerce business owners should know all the laws governing them, including 'federal advertising laws, CAN-SPAM Act (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act) of 2003' etc.. (Beal, 2010)

Certain provisions of the above laws include provisions that govern the mails (for marketing purposes), necessary contents and format of the e-mail, timings and methods for acting as per the rules and penalties on non-compliance. Further, the e-mails should include appropriate subject, information that the 'message is an advertisement and it must also include opt-out information and your business postal address.' (Beal, 2010)

Governments and government agencies play and important part in devising the rules and regulations governing internet marketing. There separate departments in almost all the developed and developing countries' governments that look after e-commerce and related concerns. Government of Australia has identified many basic guidelines for internet advertising and marketing in its e-commerce guide, including the appropriate subject, necessity for obtaining permission incase of e-mails, the content of the e-mails and advertisements. Australian government has also developed and implemented 'the Spam Act' that applies to commercial electronic messages and among other things highlight the necessary characteristics that a commercial electronic message should possess so as to be compliant of the act and other relevant laws. (Australian Government, 2006)

Similarly, Malaysian Government has also taken many steps and implemented many legislations to regulate the electronic advertisement and marketing. In Malaysia there are several statutes that govern and control the electronic businesses including the Trade Descriptions Act 1972, the Consumer Protection Act, 1999, etc.. But none of these establish clear and strict conditions and governing principals to control electronic trade and protect the consumers fully from electronic fraud and crime. The paper also focused on a need for one single legislation to govern all the electronic transactions and marketing stratyegies to prevent fraudulent marketing activities and electronic crimes. (Hassan, 2012)

7. Electronic Commerce and Hardware

No computer and web-based program can run without appropriate hardware. Similarly, to run and establish electronic business a web server is required and appropriate hardware is one of the important (critical) requirement of a web server. A web server is based on an effective and efficient hardware platform. Web servers require computers that have 'more memory, larger hard disk drives and faster processors.' Further other hardware requirements are highly sophisticated servers to manage extensive data and processing requirements. Moreover, there should be set standards and benchmarks to evaluate and maintain the running hardware and improve its operating effectiveness and the results achieved.

8. Shopping Cart

Shopping cart refers to the software on which the entire electronic business is based. There are various companies and agencies offering easy solutions to design, implement, evaluate, maintain and run the transactions through the software efficiently and effectively. The proper designing and evaluation of shopping cart is essential and critical to the success of electyronic business. As the shopping cart provides a platform where the electronic buyers and sellers meet. (Smith, 2013)

The shopping cart software / system design considers and addresses many actors (the users of the shopping cart or people who in one way or other work with / on the shopping card). The major actors / users are the client (the buyer / consumer, who purchases goods from internet), admistrator, the person involved in the design, implementation, management and continuos maintenance of the system, the supplier (the electronic business holder / owner) who sells his goods on internet, the bank responsible for the collection of money from the customer, transferringit to the supplier, deducting all the relevant taxes and duties and submitting the duties in the government treasury. (Smith, 2013)

The developmentof a shopping cart software that helps the suppliers to sale their products to the ultimate consumer electronically involves the following stages: (Smith, 2013)

a) Design of the software: While designing the software particular attention should be paid to the requirements of the consumers, supplier, government and regulatory bodies and all the other actors that are in one way or the other connected with the software. Important attention should be paid top the available hardware and availability of finance to fund capital expendoiture as and whwn required. (Smith, 2013)

b) Implementation of the software: In this stage the designed software is deployed to the satisfaction of the customers and the suppliers. It may be followed by a simulation phase or directly implemented depending on the sophistication of the system and the uniqueness of the situation and business nature. The more unique the business is, the more sophisticated will be the software and such a software will require more time and care for the design and implementation. (Smith, 2013)

c) Analysis of the Software: It is a continuous process and keeps on happening over the life of the projects. This refers to the evaluation of the software so as to check that whether the software is supporting the suppliers and consumers in the way it was desined. Further, this stage helps in making continuous improvements in the design and technology of the software. Moreover, by constant monitoring and analysis of the shopping cart technological and operational deficiencies are identified in a timely manner and therby reduced timely without causing major problems. This stage also helps in keeping aligned with the advancements in technology and makingthe relevant technological updates in the system and the software, as and when required. (Smith, 2013)

9. Biometric Securities

In an electronic world many security issues and problems can be solved and dealt with, by using biometrics. Biometrics are thew most secure and convenient 'authentication tool' as it relies on biological characteristics that cannot be stolen, borrowed, forged or forgotten (e.g. finger prints: as no two people can have the same fingerprints, pupil or voice recognition: these charactyeristics cannot even be changed or stolen). Biometrics security systems are based on security and access controls and 'automatic authentication of a person based on his/her physiological and behavioral characteristics.' Examples of biometrics security systems include, finger -- scan, voice -- scan, facial -- scan, Iris / pupil -- scan, signature -- scan etc.. Moreover, with the growing technology and advancements, such security systems are developed and used which utilize more than one biometric checks and yield in results that are more reliable and mostly fool proof. (Zhang, 2002)

10. Elements of Computer Security

To make your computer experience better, you have to take care of the security of your computer especially if you are on a network. There are some elements of computer security that should be kept in mind when using internet and intranet on a computer. The first element that should be taken care of is confidentiality. The privacy of data is a problem of every network. Every network has to fight unauthorized people who try to enter the network and gain access to the data. The data that belongs to the authorized members is their property and if it is disclosed to anyone else, even unintentionally, it will be an outrage. (Ross, 2006)

Secondly, the integrity of data is another aspect of computer security that should be considered. The networks should be protected against unauthorized alteration of data. The hackers can get access to private data and alter it. This may lead to colossal losses as the people who use the data to perform some important tasks can get mislead. To protect the integrity of data in a network, people primarily use firewalls. A firewall only allows certain types of traffic to access the network. Although nowadays some hackers also pass through the firewall and access the data. To prevent this from happening, networks use encryption and other password-based protection. (Ross, 2006)

In addition to that, transaction security is also a critical issue especially in e-commerce. Fool proof transaction security means trust of a customer and trust is very important in e-commerce. Online sales and purchases require a customer to give his credit card number to an unknown party. To take this step, the customer must be sure about the company being authentic and their network being secure. The networks use authentication, SSL protocols and encryption to assure their transactions are safe. (Marchany et al. 2002, pp.1-3)

Moreover, networks assign permissions to different members to stop them from entering unauthorized areas. For instance, a network has a public and a members area. The programmers will assign permissions in a way that the normal users will not be able to gain access to the data kept in the members area. This is achieved by using passwords and an integrated firewall. (Coburn, 2012)

Networks, first of all, try to prevent any unauthorized access but if in case someone gains unauthorized access the networks must detect that person before any harm is done. This detection is a part of the security and it is also important as the damage is prevented if the hacker is detected and stopped. However, if the hacker does alter or delete the data, there must be some backup to restore the data so that the problem does not exacerbate. (Coburn, 2012)

11. Late IT Projects

The IT projects are usually late and are less likely to be completed on time. There are a lot of reasons behind this. First of all, the features announced are usually numerous and thus they take time to be completed. The problem is exacerbated by the ambitions of the people as the creators also have keep up the expectations of the people. (Page, 2010)

Secondly, the project managers usually don't phase the tasks they have to do and thus they require more time. Testing takes a lot of time as everything may not be correct once you create it. The design may also need revision and quality checks. So all of these steps take time and they have to be phased to avoid any delay. (Page, 2010)

Lastly, the managers may also misunderstand the time they will take to create something from the beginning. It usually takes a lot of time to create something new and the programmers underestimate the time. (Page, 2010)

12. E-Commerce Initiatives

Although, electronic commerce technologies and advancements and adapting to e-commerce for is considered essential for the development of any business in today's fast moving and growing global business environment. But, e-commerce technologies and systems pose serious threats to the continuity, security and survival of the businesses and if steps are not taken to properly plan the e-commerce business strategies before implementation serious issues can be avoided. (Goncalves et al., 2005)

For every loss making organization, e-commerce is not a solution and if the e-commerce process is not properly conceived and designed it results in more problems than solutions. The e-commerce strategy should be designed according to each company's separate and unique situation. There is chance that each model developed in different circumstances and using different base case results in the same types of problems and issues. (Goncalves et al., 2005)

There are various factors that determnine the design and implementation of an e-commerce initiative to result in an effective system. These factors are broadly categorized into input factors, process factors and output factors. (Goncalves et al., 2005)

Major steps in planning an e-business project can be categorized as follows:

a) Identify the business scope and opportunity (including potential markets, products to venture in),

b) Analyzing and evaluating the scopeof the identified opportunities,

c) Analyzing and evaluating the sustainability, security, progress and future prospects of the identified opportunities, and d) Priortize the identified prospects on the basis of the risks and returns associated to them.

Further, in designing and implementing any e-commerce strategy required value should be given to the needs and wants of the customer and customer satisfaction should be kept above everything. The e-commerce-based business should be able to provide the customers with the desired quality of product at an economical price and win customer satisfaction and loyalty. (Stevenson, 2002)

13. Review and Reflection

The above paper aims at discussing and evaluating all the underlying techniques, concepts, issues and factors underlying an electronic commerce-based business projects. Starting from the concept and meaning of e-commerce to the market, marketing and advertising strategy, regulations that govern e-commerce, hardware and software required, security concerns and solutions, etc.. This paper made me grasp fully and easily the requisitions and methodology for planning an e-commerce project. While regulator and security issues were the hardest part to grasp.

14. Internet Crime Prevention

Internet crime also known as the cyber space crime is one of the fastest growing forms of crime, which is getting easier and more dangerous day by say. With ease to accessibility and a wide range of technological advancements, this form of crime is very hard to detect and therefore, needs to be prevented. (Sutton et al., 1998)

There can be various approaches to internet crime prevention including among others:

a) Reducing the opportunities to indulge in the crime; and b) By formally establishing the systems and policies, controls to security and access; and c) Most importantly by educating people and creating awareness. (Sutton et al., 1998)

Building ethical communities and developing strong morals also help prevent cyber crimes. As control within oneself will lead to a controlled and balanced community. However, it is easier said than done and preventing cyber crimes is not only a gruesome task but also challenging. (Sutton et al., 1998)