Review a local e-commerce site

E-commerce had been practicing many years. During mid-nineties, many Malaysia’s industries involved in this practice. Nowadays people are prefer to purchase goods online because this can save their time to visit the physical store.

Below are some of the e-commerce sites:-
· http://www.lelong.com/ for consumers to purchase goods such clothes, watches and etc,
· http://www.gsc.com/ for customer to book movie ticket online as well as make payment,
· http://www.airasia.com/ which is an airline company provides online booking services to customers.

Besides, all fields mention above banking field also involve in e-commerce such as public bank (www.pbbank.com.my). Now let me introduce http://www.gsc.com/ in details.

Golden Screen Cinemas Sdn Bhd (GSC) is the leading film exhibitor and distributor in Malaysia. GSC is a click-and-mortar organization which conducting some e-commerce activities (E-payment ticketing and provide online advertising), but its primary business was done in the physical shop (cinemas).

Customers can purchase their tickets via GSC e-payment ticketing (online) and the public also enable to obtain most of the information of GSC through GSC website as well as the latest movies. http://www.gsc.com.my/ . In the GSC website, customers can select their own seats when they make booking. Apart from that, customers also enable to enjoy benefit while visit GSC website, there are many promotion such as free movie treat on member's birthday, load up on free complimentary movie passes, chance to get movie passes or vouchers to any movie related events at GSC cinemas, etc.

In conclusion, GSC is a good website which can save customers time to went to the counter to purchase tickets because it provide e-commerce facilities to consumers.

E-Government in Malaysia: Its implementation so far and citizen’s adoption strategies

E-Government is the use of information and communication technologies in public administration combined with organizational change and new skills to improve public services and democratic processes and to strengthen support to public policies.

The implementation E-Government in Malaysia such as:-
· e-Filling for Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri Malaysia (HASIL)
· E-Perolehan
· KWSP’s i-Akaun
· renewing road tax and driving license online

Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri Malaysia (HASIL) has introduced e-Filing. It is an application which enables taxpayers to submit their Tax Return Forms electronically-"Easy, Accurate & Safe".

Malaysian Inland Tax Office is planning to stop mailing out tax forms to all the tax payers to do their tax return. Now they are requiring everyone to download the tax filing form and submit their tax returns electronically. What is need is only a system that have Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 and above, as well as Adobe Reader 7.0.5. Besides, the use of the Mycard with the 64K chip, devices like a Mycard electronic reader and electronic signature are also involved. A good printer plus a scanner are also required to complete the task. From a technological point of view, this plan is certainly a big challenge to be implemented successfully. From the perspective of the computer usage, online Internet is still yet to be widely adopted in this country. If implemented properly, this plan may help to spur the computer and online usage in Malaysia.

However, there are some of the problems that the citizens encounter through this e-filling. There are felling unsecured of their identity unprotected, the accuracy of the e-filling and some of the citizen do not have Technological knowledge to government application via internet.

On the other hand, there are various reasons that we encourage citizens to use the e- filling application such as can increase the office efficiency, convenience of filing via the Internet, save accounting time by paying fees online, nationwide network of Process Servers, court forms available online, reduces paperwork.




Other e-Government project implementation is Electronic Procurement (eP) Project (also known as ePerolehan). E-Perolehan is an electronic procurement system provided by the government to enable suppliers to sell their products or services in the internet. Through ePerolehan, suppliers and contractors can receive, manage, and process orders or payment from government agencies through transactions done electronically on the internet.

However, there are some problems facing by the user of e-Perolehan. The consumers’ may lack of online procurement knowledge. Furthermore, some consumer may felt lack of trustily and confidential of the system as the risk of losing information is higher in ePerolehan system. In addition, the challenge is even greater compared to paper environment, therefore change and risk management must be in place to ensure information available overtime.

E-government forms an emerging field, which is rapidly gaining attention and importance. Citizens expect and demand governmental services with a high degree of quality, quantity, and availability in a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week, and 365 days a year. Governments all over the world are developing information systems and electronic services that have the capacity to meet these emerging service needs and demands of citizens. Success in delivering electronic services depends upon the capability and self-confidence of citizens in performing e-transactions, as well as their trust and confidence in the protection of their personal data within an open and accountable government. The ease of use, compatibility, and trustworthiness are significant predictors of citizens’ intention to use e-Services and that perceived reactive advantage, perceived image, perceived compatibility, perceived usefulness, and relative advantage are significant elements of e-Government adoption.

Things to take note to prevent E-auction fraud when a consumer is participating in an E-auction

Nowadays, using internet to do the online banking, shopping or any other bid activities has become more convenience for people. Therefore, E-auction has become popular through online where not face-to-face auction. Furthermore, the incident of E-auction fraud may arise. When comes to e-auction transactions, who can you trust? Since you do not know the people or products you're dealing with, conducting e-auction transactions over the Internet is risky.

An auction is a market mechanism by which buyers make bids and sellers place offers. Electronic auctions (e-auctions), auctions conducted online.

E-auction fraud may include:

~ bid shielding: The practice of placing a low bid in an auction online and having a second person enter a bid that is high enough to get other bidders to drop out or not even bid. Then at the last second, the high bid is retracted and the low bid wins.
~ shilling: placing fake bids on auction items to artificially jack up the bidding price

~ fake photos and misleading descriptions

~ failure to ship merchandise and make payments

~ loss and damage claims~ switch and return

~ high shipping costs and handling fees

In order for consumers in preventing E-auction fraud, there are few things that may want to take note on (these note provided is base on the effort done by eBay in order to reduce fraud) such as;

· User identity verification is a voluntary program encourages users to supply eBay with information for online verification to qualifies them for highest level of verification.

· Authentication service is to determine whether an item is genuine and described appropriately.

· Grading services is to determine physical condition of an item or the goods.· Feedback forum is provides for the users with ability to comment on their experiences with other individuals.

· Insurance policy is offers by eBay underwritten by Lloyd’s of London at no cost to eBay users.

· Escrow services are if items valued at more than $200, eBay recommends escrow services for free. It is a licensed and regulated company that collects, holds, and sends a buyer's money to a seller according to instructions agreed on by both the buyer and seller. Typically, once the buyer receives and approves the item from the seller within an agreed time frame, the escrow service then sends the payment to the seller.

· Appraisal services is use a variety of methods to appraise items.

~Assessment of authenticity and condition,

~Review of what comparable items have sold for in recent months.

· Verifications are a way of confirming the identity and evaluating the condition of an item.

From more information on step or ways in preventing E-auction fraud you can visit,

http://wps.prenhall.com/wps/media/objects/260/267260/online_appendices/Turban-Appendix2A.pdf

http://www.spamlaws.com/internet-auction-fraud.html

Corporate Blogging: A New Marketing Communication Tool for Companies

A corporate blog is a tool and weblog published that can used by the all types of business to reach their goals as well as to extend their image in the marketplace. Corporate blogs have become an easy-to-access window for most companies to communicate with their customers. Besides, it also helps the organizations have an opportunity to open a two-way channel between employees and customers. Examples of reasons to start a corporate blog would include: Employment Branding, Product Launch, Public Relations, Marketing Campaigns, Consulting Services, Vendor Relations, Media Relations, and Innovative Ideas used to establish Industry Expertise.

There are 2 major categories of corporate blogs which are Internal Blogs and External Blogs.

The Internal Blogs divide into:
1) Knowledge Blogs: give employees information relating to their work assignments.

2) Collaboration Blogs: provide a working team with a tool for research, collaboration and discussion.

3) Culture Blogs: strengthen organizational culture.

It is generally accessed through the company intranet. Therefore, any employee can receive the latest information and news through this intranet. The informal nature of blogs may encourage employees’ participation, free discussion of issues, collective intelligence, direct communication between various layers of an organization and a sense of community.

The External Blogs include:
1) Sales Blogs: provide updated information from time to time to the customers related to new launched products or any others promotion products.

2) Relationship Blogs: create, uphold or strengthen relationships with customers, suppliers and so on.

3) Branding Blogs: strengthen the brand, the profile of the publishing organization or individuals within it.

It is a publicly available weblog where employees, teams, or spokespersons share their views. It is often used to announce new products and services (or the end of old products), to explain and clarify policies, or to react on public criticism on certain issues in honest and direct view.

Apart from that, corporate blogs have both advantages and disadvantages.




Advantages of Corporate Blogging
1. Help the organization develop stronger relationships and brand loyalty with their customers, as they interact with the ‘human face’ of the organization through blogs.

2. Help employees to keep themselves informed on all the current happenings in the organization.

3. In an intranet environment, can be an excellent way of sharing knowledge within the organization. E.g. allow employees to display their expertise on a particular topic, thereby becoming a recognized industry.

4. Can be a positive way of getting feedback, and keeping a finger on the pulse, as readers react to certain pieces, suggest story ideas.

5. Can build the profile of the writer, showcasing the organization as having talent and expertise.


Disadvantages of Corporate Blogging
1. Some employees may use blogs to write negatively about the company which can lead to bad publicity.

2. Most people do not have very much to say that is interesting, and/or are unable to write down their ideas in a compelling and clear manner.

3. If organizations do not make sure that a blog complies with all applicable local, national and foreign requirements for doing business, it can lead to legal liabilities.

4. Like practically everything else on the Web, blogs are easy to start and hard to maintain. Writing coherently is one of the most difficult and time-consuming tasks for a human being to undertake. So, far from blogs being a cheap strategy, they are a very expensive one, in that they eat up time. As a result, many blogs are not updated, thus damaging rather than enhancing the reputation of the organization.

As a conclusion, blogging encourages communication and allows businesses more easily to reach their customers. If used properly, corporate blogging will enhance customer loyalty, and can make the business more successful.