Category: Commerce

The Importance of Trademark and Its Place Within the Commerce Field

Trademarks have been there since the ancient of times and before all the technology has been established, even before al; the creation of shops and stores. When people used to trade goods through craftsmen; their creativity was so undrafted that they used unique and different ways to trademark their goods for example through signatures or signs to mark them. Trademarks took up its very significant and important role with the bringing of industrialization and since then have established their key factor presence within trade and economic flourishing. This paper is going to interpret and explain in depth the importance of trademark and how it came to take its place within the commerce field.

In order to define a trademark, one needs to look at the role it plays and function. “A trademark is any sign that individualizes the goods of a given enterprise and distinguishes them from the goods of its competitors”. This definition seemed to fit trademark as the author saw that it sheds light on both aspects of the role and function of the trademark, and that it is a must to look at them differently and independently, as they are so. For a trademark to exist and individualize a product, it must indicate the source of the product. That refers to the origin of it or the geographical location, as the name of the manufacturer or the traders are often irrelevant and unknown to the consumer. The mention of the origin is not particularly for the trademark to gain any authenticity, but rather for the consumer to know that this product or trademark is trust worthy.

The growth and expansion of the market-oriented economy alongside with the growth of industrialization, it opened up a lane for competition between manufacturers and trade markets, for the sole purpose of offering goods (of the same kind) however, with different characteristics or properties. That gives the consumer the chance to pick between their own likings. They usually differ in properties like quality, price, etc. The fact that products must and are named is already an indication of a trademark being there.

Trademarks also need to exist so that they can be a medium of communication with the consumer, through marketing and advertising their products, which leads to them selling it. Organizations and business also require the essential need of trade marks in order to ‘individualize their products’. Howe do trademarks serve the economy? Well, they do that by ‘serving their owners’ through the advertising and selling of foods, which all leads to rationalizing ‘the commercialization of the goods’.

All of that aids in offering a variety of choices for the consumer in order for them to be able to pick out their products. Trademarks often motivate and inspire their owners to keep maintaining and improving the product’s quality. And that takes place for the sake of maintaining and meeting the consumers’ expectations of the product. Therefore, trademarks are a way of making the consumer rely and come back to the product.

Many approaches have been developed historically, for instance on the ‘basis of use or registration’, and most often their combined together. For example, The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property of March 20, 1893 has placed contracting countries under the obligation to come forward for a trademark register. However, use does play an important role as within countries that have protection on use, registration does not place you as a priority to be trademarked first, but rather upon the first user. This approach has been chosen by USA, Indonesia, the Philippines and all countries with law on the traditional British Model. Whereas, there are countries that have no trademark register at all.

Other than the origin function and distinguishing function mentioned above, there are a lot more functions for the existence of trademark. For instance, there is the quality function which indicates that it helps consumers rely on the product due to its quality. There is the advertising function, which states that the trademark is a way of communicating with the customers through marketing and advertising. And lastly, the trademark has the function of being the products’ reputation, allowing the owner to protect it, license or franchise it.

Trademarks should and must be legally protected, or competitors might use the same sign for the same or even just similar products, which might confound the consumer and puzzle them into not knowing which product it is that they want.

That act of confusion and bafflement might end up with the consumer buying the wrong product and holding their intended organization responsible for it not meeting their usual standards. And once the consumer is aware of the fact that they bought the wrong product instead of the genuine one, they won’t be able to take any legal action towards them. That is what places importance on trademarks being unique and different, so that it prevents genuine organizations form being faulty accused and prevents the consumer from accidently buying their undesired products. In this comes the ‘exclusive right of the proprietor of the trademark’ which allows him to protect his trademark and prevent any competition from admitting to the same trademark for it to even be similar.

There is also a huge need for signs, so that consumers can distinguish the products, especially on products like cars, or insurance companies, etc. These signs are referred to as service marks and they fill the same role and function of a trademark, for instance trademarks within the origin and distinguishing function. Service marks also need to be protected and registered, and that is done through the same approaches of a trademark. However, there are some minor differences with both approaches due to the fact that not all countries believe in the need for service marks to be registered and protected.

There are indeed different distinctive signs alongside trademarks and service marks. For example, collective marks, certification marks, appellations of original trade banes. These signs have some similarities within features with trademarks and service marks, however. They still have differences.

There are dishonest manufacturers and traders that purposefully imitate a product, not only the trademark but also the labels and packaging used for presentation of the goods. These practices cannot be taken up by the traditional trademark law. In such cases, the trademark owner must rely on unfair competition law and a number of other special rules that might protect him against labelling, and packaging imitations, counterfeiting and trademark piracy.

Importance of Commerce: Analytical Essay

Introduction

After understanding what commerce is and how the goods are made available to the consumers. What then is the importance of Commerce?

The following are some of the importance of Commerce

1. Commerce tries to satisfy increasing human wants

Human wants are never ending. They can be classified as ‘Basic wants’ and ‘Secondary wants’. Commerce has made distribution and movement of goods possible from one part of the world to the other. Today we can buy anything produced anywhere in the world. This has in turn enabled man to satisfy his many wants thereby promoting social welfare.

2. Commerce helps to increase our standard of living

Standard of living refers to quality of life enjoyed by the members of a society. When man consumes a variety of products, his standard of living improves. To consume a variety of goods he must be able to secure them first. Commerce helps us to get what we want at right time, right place and at right price and thus helps in improving our standard of living.

3. Commerce links producers and consumers

Production is meant for ultimate consumption. Commerce makes possible to link producers and consumers through retailers and wholesalers and also through the aids to trade. Consumers get information about different goods through advertisements and salesmanship. The manufacturers are regularly informed about the likes and dislikes of the consumers through marketing research. Thus commerce creates contact between the centers of production and consumption and links them.

4. Commerce generates employment opportunities

The growth of commerce, industry and trade bring about the growth of agencies of trade such as banking, transport, warehousing, advertising, etc. These agencies need people to look after their functioning. Increase in production results in increasing demand, which further results in boosting employment opportunities. Thus development of commerce generates more and more employment opportunities for millions of people in a country.

5. Commerce increases national income and wealth

When production increases, national income also increases. In a developed country, manufacturing industries and commerce together accounts for nearly 80% of total national income. It also helps to earn foreign exchange by way of exports and duties levied on imports. Thus, commerce increases the national income and wealth of a nation.

6. Commerce helps in expansion of aids to trade

With the growth in trade and commerce there is growing need for expansion and modernization of aids to trade. Aids to trade such as banking, communication, advertising and publicity, transport, insurance, etc., are expanded and modernized for the smooth conduct of commerce.

7. Commerce helps in growth of industrial development

Commerce looks after the smooth distribution of goods and services made available by the industry. Without commerce, industry will find it difficult to keep the pace of production. It helps to increase demand for goods on one hand and on the other hand it helps industries by getting them the necessary raw materials and other services. Hence, commerce helps in attaining better division of labour and industrial progress.

8. Commerce encourages international trade

Through commerce, we can secure a fair and equitable distribution of goods throughout the world. With the help of transport and communication development, countries can exchange their surplus commodities and earn foreign exchange, which is very useful for importing machinery and sophisticated technology. It ensures faster economic growth of the country.

9. Commerce benefits underdeveloped countries

Underdeveloped countries can import skilled labour and technical know-how from developed countries, while the advanced countries can import raw materials from underdeveloped countries. This helps in laying down the seeds of industrialization in underdeveloped countries.

10. Commerce helps during emergencies

During emergencies like floods, earthquakes and wars, commerce helps in reaching the essential requirements like foodstuff, medicines and relief measures to the affected areas.

Reference

1. Matimba A (2009), Distinction in commerce, self (A. Matimba), Livingstone, Zambia.
2. Wokorach J.B (1999), A complete course, 3th edition, Salama publishers, Bostwana
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moyu1itQY3Q
4. https://pixabay.com/images/search/trade/?pagi=3
5. http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/trade/brief/aid-for-trade

Strengthening E-Commerce in the Asia Pacific: Analytical Essay

Introduction

The acute awareness of building strong multilateral ties within Asia and the Pacific saw the establishment of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) – a platform aimed at discussing confidence-building measures. This includes trade and commerce and the challenges surrounding it.

By 2021, e-commerce in Asia-Pacific (APAC) is expected to reach $3.5 trillion. This multi-trillion dollar e-commerce market is the world’s largest, and almost three times larger than North America[footnoteRef:1]. Whilst the projected growth is slightly slowing in the coming years, it still signifies a stabilizing growth trajectory with regions’ developed, emerging and frontier markets offering investors various opportunities[footnoteRef:2]. Comment by HOW JACKSON : Awkward phrasing. Try “the e-commerce market is expected to value at $3.5 trillion by 2021.” Comment by HOW JACKSON : Should include a brief introduction to e-commerce (aka what constitutes e-commerce based on general understanding) and what is driving the growth of e-commerce [1: https://go.rakutenmarketing.com/hubfs/201808-GMT-1014-RM-APAC-eCommerce-Report-FINAL.pdf] [2: https://sbr.com.sg/economy/asia/apacs-e-commerce-growth-hit-142-in-2019-fitch-solutions]

As e-commerce becomes increasingly international, the retail supply chain will need to continuously evolve to keep up. Today, over 50% of all the online shopping for retail goods and services in the world takes place in the Asia-Pacific region. However, Asia’s e-commerce market remains highly heterogeneous. In terms of e-commerce readiness, the Republic of Korea ranks fifth globally while Afghanistan ranks 132. Potential investors would also have to navigate some challenges, particularly with emerging Asia markets, as political risks and poor telecommunication services continue to hinder the region’s progress. In addition, cybersecurity remains a key concern to ensure safe e-commerce transactions. There is thus an increasing struggle to combat sophisticated cyber threats and the search for appropriate solutions to address them. Comment by HOW JACKSON : Quite sure the nature of e-commerce is such that it thrives on international business. Can look deeper into why e-commerce is proving to be much more popular as compared to retail shopping (convenience maybe) Comment by HOW JACKSON : I have few issues with the content here, just take note that the following comments are aimed at how you portray the information available to you. Also, try to refine this paragraph a bit in terms of its clarity. There are far too many issues in this paragraph (admittedly, all of them are important and relevant) but the entire paragraph lacks focus as a result. If you intend to broadly sweep across multiple issues with e-commerce is facing, might be better to add a signal phrase such as:“Broadly speaking, there are several impediments to the spread of e-commerce. These include the (whatever it is you deem fit to add)”However, on a closer read you seem to be delving into the challenges facing e-commerce, if that is the case, do make it clearer by eliminating the first two sentences (which expound on the physical vs. online shopping debate). Comment by HOW JACKSON : When referring to varied penetration and spread of e-commerce within Asian markets, heterogeneous as a description is not inaccurate. It might be better if you can consider the target audience of the guide and fit the language to the delegates (also by showcasing the varied levels of penetration of e-commerce into Asia-Pacific markets, you get to drive delegates’ understanding of the topic and shape debate) Comment by HOW JACKSON : Can also define this term in an embedded sub-clause or in parentheses Comment by HOW JACKSON : Consistency is better. If you used the full “Republic of Korea” previously, use “Islamic Republic of Afghanistan” here

The discussion at hand will then require delegates to consider the complexity of the issue, including the political, economic and social aspects. In the ARF, delegates are expected to formulate solutions to overcome barriers for the Asia Pacific to achieve greater e-commerce connectivity. Delegates are also expected to mitigate the existing infrastructural and security limitations to strengthen cybersecurity in the region.

Comment by HOW JACKSON : To be very honest, all issues are complex so this sentence serves no purpose. What you can say is that e-commerce is inexplicably linked to a multitude of issues (cyber-security, telecommunication networks, investor confidence, smart countries etc.) amidst a world where telecoms can be targeted or utilized as tools for surveillance and politicking (Huawei in the US and Google in China for example) and delegates will do well to keep all these issues in mind even as they attempt to achieve e-commerce connectivity

[bookmark: _vfjucwtypvrt]Definitions Comment by HOW JACKSON : I’m not sure if this had been briefed/taught, but do share this around as well. Definitions need not be just textbook definitions of technical terminologies within the scope of the topic. In fact, definitions can be used to scope the debate for the delegates. In this case, I may even take this chance to define “capacity building” or even “cybersecurity” to hint to delegates the possible actions they can take. In fact, if I was feeling a little less helpful, I would just define problems plaguing e-commerce such as Online Identity Verification, Customer Loyalty, Data Security or even technical terms such as “Snooping” or even “Data Leakage” and let delegates decide what measures they intend to come up with.Admittedly, I have not done as much research as you did hence I am unable to offer more specific examples but these should suffice to guide you.

E-commerce

E-commerce involves the purchase and sale of products (such as physical goods, digital products or services) transacted over computer networks. Technologies such as the internet and electronic data interchange over devices such as personal computers, tablets, and mobile phones can be used for such purposes. Major e-commerce categories include business-to-consumer (B2C), business-to-business (B2B), and consumer-to-consumer (C2C). Comment by HOW JACKSON : Try not to put in technical terms (even though these are pretty straightforward ones) inside your definitions without explanations at least ya?

Confidence Building Measures (CBMs)

CBMs are measures undertaken by states to communicate the motivations and intentions behind their military activities to other states in a bid to reduce uncertainty, and minimise suspicion and room for misinterpretation. CBMs include 3: Comment by HOW JACKSON : Okay while skimming through this is quite alarming to the delegates. No delegate will even see the link between e-commerce and military activities so your definition ends up causing far more confusion than necessary.

1. Principles/declaratory measures
2. Transparency measures
3. Constraining measures

Historical Progress Comment by 19Y6C22 YI SHIQI: for this part do i search for govt policies? mostly there are only policies on trade so do i add those here? and do i add companies progress here or govt? Comment by 19Y6C22 NICHOLAS SOH KAI SERN: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/bukalapak#section-overview Comment by 19Y6C22 NICHOLAS SOH KAI SERN: touch more on APC e-commerce companies

Time

Issue/Significance

1991 – The Beginning

In 1991 the internet was opened up to commercial use; since then many businesses have taken up residence at websites. Comment by 19Y6C22 NICHOLAS SOH KAI SERN: this is super generic. what u mean by open up? The first e-commerce website was established? Comment by 19Y6C22 YI SHIQI: Yea ok i find a specific eg on this Comment by HOW JACKSON : Can just rephrase it into “the World Wide Web became publicly available”

1994 – Money Online

Third-party payment services for processing online credit card sales began to appear, together with the establishment of the first Online Bank. In October 1994, Stanford Federal Credit Union became the first financial institution in the U.S. to offer internet banking to all of its customers.

(https://www.gobankingrates.com/banking/history-online-banking/ https://www.templatemonster.com/blog/history-of-ecommerce-timeline-infographic/)

1995 – Changing the Playing Field

eBay was founded in Pierre Omidyar’s San Jose lback in September 1995. eBay is an American multinational corporation and e-commerce company, providing consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales services via the Internet. It changed the playing field for e-commerce. (http://www.ebay.com/)

2000 – The Collapse

Dot-com collapse when thousands of internet of internet businesses folded. Despite the epic collapse, many of the worlds’ most established traditional brick-and-mortar businesses were emboldened with the promise of e-commerce and the prospect of serving a global customer base electronically. (http://www.spirecast.com/history-of-e-commerce/) Comment by HOW JACKSON : Yeap.

2000 – E-commerce Changed

A great number of business companies in the United States and Western Europe represented their services on the World Wide Web. At this time the meaning of the word e-commerce was changed. People began to define the term e-commerce as the process of purchasing available goods and services over the Internet using secure connections and electronic payment services. (http://www.ecommerce-land.com/history_ecommerce.html) Comment by HOW JACKSON : Can also define terms such as these.

2002 – Shopping Made Easy

Google spotted a gap in the market and started what is today known as Google Shopping. Back in 2002, Google Shopping was a price comparison search tool that would crawl all online products and display them in the “Shopping” tab and was a great way for smaller businesses to advertise their products for free. Comment by HOW JACKSON : An oft-used term between techies but you may want to avoid using lingo such as these t avoid confusion. (http://www.yoma.co.uk/blog/20-years-ecommerce-history-timeline/)

2003 – Amazon

In 2003 the company made its first annual profit which was the first step to the further development; at the outset Amazon.com was considered as an online bookstore, but in time it extended a variety of goods by adding electronics, software, DVDs, video games, music CDs, MP3s, apparel, footwear, health products, etc. The original name of the company was Cadabra.com, but shortly after it was changed to Amazon because of popularity. (http://www.ecommerce-land.com/history_ecommerce.html) Comment by HOW JACKSON : I believe an appropriate manner of describing this would be “expanded its catalogue” or something to this effect.Do avoid such awkward phrasing.

2006 – Targeting

Facebook signed a deal with Microsoft to provide and sell ads on their site so as to start making a profit. This was much to the pleasure of e-commerce businesses as they could now reach out to an audience who were mostly tech-savvy and open to the idea of buying online; now targeted ads, video ads and timeline ads. Comment by HOW JACKSON : A broken phrase here. I am going to assume you did not finish typing.

(http://www.yoma.co.uk/blog/20-years-ecommerce-history-timeline/)

2008 – B2B

Business-to-business electronic commerce accounts for the vast majority of total e-commerce sales and plays a leading role in global supply chain networks. In 2008, approximately 40 percent of manufacturing sales and 16.3 percent of wholesale sales in the United States were e-commerce related. (http://www.supplychainquarterly.com/columns/scq201102monetarymatters/)

2013 – Taobao in Singapore

Alipay for Taobao payments

2016 – Lazada Acquisition in SEA

Redmart Acquisition Comment by HOW JACKSON : Where are the descriptions for these events?

Alibaba Group

Alibaba Group launched its Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) initiative. It aims to facilitate cross‐border trade for SMEs, by removing some of the obstacles that make them reluctant to sell online to foreign buyers. This includes helping SMEs establish e‐fulfilment hubs in their home country, as well as assisting with matters such as e‐payment. There is even the potential for foreign governments to agree to digital free‐trade zones, where regulation is kept to a minimum. The first eWTP digital free‐trade zone (between China and Malaysia) was announced in March 2017.

2017 – Rise of M-commerce

It is believed the as e-commerce grows it will turn more and more into m-commerce as smartphones become increasingly the norm in the day to day life; 55% of time spent with online retail today occurs on smartphones and tablets—imagine what that figure will be in five years. (https://www.internetretailer.com/2014/04/28/e-commerce-and-m-commerce-next-five-years) Comment by HOW JACKSON : Be careful of what you copy. This is an academic document not some sensational news article

Multi-Shopping Comment by HOW JACKSON : I originally gave you the benefit of doubt as I read through the timeline but as I read on, it became painfully obvious that most if not all of these were directly copied from various sources with minimal edits. Forgive me if this is untrue but it just speaks volume about the level of effort put here. Fragmented phrases, emotive language and even directly referencing delegates with “Customers might see your product” are all hallmarks of poorly written/copied articles. I urge you to process whatever information is available in the sources and explain the events in such a manner as to showcase why these events were important or the impacts of these events on the development of e-commerce. The whole idea of including a timeline is to showcase the evolution of e-commerce and its challenges.

Nowadays, consumers don’t just have options for where they shop; they also have options for what they want to shop on. Customers might see your product while window shopping at the mall, check it out on their smartphones, conduct further research on their tablets, and finally buy the product on their desktops. They move fast between devices and expect brands to keep up. (https://www.curalate.com/blog/future-of-ecommerce/)

Affiliation

Amazon is one of the first e-commerce businesses to establish an affiliate marketing program, and nowadays the company get about 40% of its sales from affiliates the third party sellers who list and sell goods on the web site. (http://www.ecommerce-land.com/history_ecommerce.html)

2019 – Steady rise of E-commerce

One big reason e-commerce will continue its steady march of growth is simply because more people worldwide will hop online and start spending money. In 2015, the number of digital buyers stood at 1.46 billion; in 2019 that figure is expected to cross the 2 billion mark. (https://www.curalate.com/blog/future-of-ecommerce/)

2020

According to eMarketer, the region with the highest total of e-commerce sales – Asia-Pacific, where e-commerce sales overtook North America in 2014. According to Forrester, the e-commerce market trend in the Asia-Pacific region will reach $1.4 trillion in 2020. eMarketer attributes the growth of the Asia-Pacific market to the development of technology in the region, allowing customers to make online purchases. (https://www.demoup.com/blog/six-new-ecommerce-trends-shaping-the-future-online-retail/)

In the Philippines and Vietnam, dedicated e-commerce offices and agencies have been created to help reshape the regulatory environment. One example is an e-commerce Trustmark which is a logo displayed on the website to indicate that the business has been shown to be trustworthy by the issuing organisation (such as TRUSTe and VeriSign). Although intended as a way for shoppers to be reassured that websites are securely pr

Key Stakeholders

China, South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, India and the Pacific

China

With over 543 million digital buyers, China leads the way among APAC countries for e-commerce. Chinese consumers account for 52% of total e-commerce sales in APAC and are on pace to exceed 60% by 2021. Local Chinese tech champions such as Alibaba Group, Tencent and JD dominate a rapidly growing e-commerce ecosystem. The rapid development of this industry combined with a large and growing digital consumer base has fuelled tremendous growth both domestically and abroad via cross-border trade. This unique environment is propelling innovations in commerce and digital trade, with China serving as a testbed for new ideas that will propel the future of the global e-commerce marketplace. Comment by 19Y6C22 NICHOLAS SOH KAI SERN: include in the timeline

The Chinese e-commerce market’s success stems from factors including government support, the growing power of the middle class, increasing hi-speed network access and rapid adoption of new technology.

Japan, South Korea

East Asia has some of the world’s biggest and most advanced e-commerce markets (Kshetri 2018a). Japan is Asia’s second-largest e-commerce market and the fourth-largest in the world (Ecommerce Europe 2015). The Republic of Korea is Asia’s third-largest retail e-commerce market, and seventh worldwide (eMarketer 2015a).

Australia, New Zealand

In Oceania, both Australia and New Zealand have highly developed e-commerce markets. E-commerce consumers in Oceania shopped more cross-border than other economies in Asia and the Pacific. However, most largely prefer to shop offline due to shipping costs. Other reasons include concerns over the ability to return items (28%), lack of payment security (21%) and website legitimacy concerns (19%). Despite being a growing multi-hundred billion dollar economy, Australians are more wary of online shopping than any other APAC country.

Southeast Asia

In 2016, Southeast Asia was estimated to have 260 million internet users and is expected to have 480 million by 2020 (Google and Temasek 2016). As of 2017, however, only 3% of the 560 million people in Southeast Asia had shopped online (Wenyu 2017). Nevertheless, the young population, lack of big-box stores and an ever growing middle class will likely drive the region’s e-commerce in the future. (Google and Temasek 2016).

E-commerce is heavily cross-border in some Southeast Asian economies. For instance, one estimate suggests that 55% of e-commerce in Singapore and 40% in Malaysia’s are cross-border (Payvision 2013).

India

India’s dominant position in the subregion’s e-commerce market is driven by the country’s size. Nevertheless, the country is expected to see rapid e-commerce market growth. Investment bank Morgan Stanley reports India’s e-commerce market should reach $200 billion by 2026 (Bansal 2018). India has perhaps the most potential for growth in the Asia‐Pacific e‐commerce marker, as its citizens catch up with their neighbours in terms of access to the Internet, and transition from a traditionally cash‐based culture.

Scope of Debate

The Asia Pacific is far from being the e-commerce heaven due to a myriad of pressing issues that are presented below. Internet penetration, payment methods, customs administration and regulatory environment for cross border are just few of the many concerns that e-commerce businesses face.

ICT accessibility, availability, and affordability

52% of the world population lacked internet access in 2017, with 62% of these from Asia and the Pacific according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Lack of internet access can be broken down further to factors including affordability, among others (Facebook 2016). In many least developed countries (LDCs) and developing countries in Asia and the Pacific, e-commerce use among firms is extremely low.

While the availability of broadband internet connections has been a key factor in fueling its growth, e-commerce requires substantial ICT infrastructure that allows sellers to transact business with buyers. The availability of secure internet servers is also key to the growth and sustainability of the e-commerce industry and market.

Another key concern in e-commerce development is the affordability of ICT hardware, software, and services. There is wide variation in fixed and mobile broadband prices across economies. All the above result in a wide variation in e-commerce development across the region.

Payment Methods

Security and reliability of payment is a major concern for most businesses and consumers in Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Cash On Delivery (COD) is still the preferred payment method in most of these countries. In Indonesia, as an example, credit card penetration is less than 15 per cent. In some countries, COD can be anywhere from 50–70 percent total orders shipped. In Malaysia, cross-border payments are getting more acceptances and the overall payment landscape is competitive. On the other hand, Singapore has the most mature e-commerce payment infrastructures in Southeast Asia. Singapore’s various payment systems are reliable and the overall credit card penetration is very high, which is attractive as a target market for cross-border e-commerce. Brands and retailers entering the Singapore e-commerce market can expect a mature online shopper with high trust in online payment methods.

Customs administration and foreign market access

Amongst most countries in ASEAN, custom transparency, and inconsistent custom procedures remain to be areas for concerns. Today, import procedures, VAT and duties differ across countries and for different product types. Singapore stands out in the region with strong clarity and consistency of the customs and borders process. Customs and tax procedures are straightforward and corruption is at a global record low.

In Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, challenges remain for smaller international enterprises outside the countries to sell their products and services there, since there is a lack of regulations for e-commerce and non-tariff barriers still apply over a broad range of products. Malaysia has a large number of free trade agreements that allow foreign business access, but there are still some minor hurdles when accessing the market. Only the Singapore government recognises the value of lowering barriers to trade and actively pursues an agenda of open trade borders.

The regulatory environment for cross-border

E-commerce in Malaysia is relatively strong but enforcement of existing regulations could be improved. Singapore, on the other hand, has taken the lead across the region in adopting many forward-looking regulations that address e-commerce.

Potential Solutions

Proper legal frameworks

The legal and institutional environment can be a powerful facilitator for e-commerce adoption and development. Appropriate legislation is part of the backbone of the e-commerce industry. Weak legal and regulatory frameworks can result in low levels of trust in e-commerce transactions and thus reduce e-commerce use. Basic laws that are needed for e-commerce adoption fall into four categories: (i) e-transactions, including rules related to electronic signatures and authentication; (ii) consumer protection; (iii) data protection and privacy; and (iv) cybercrime.

Education on e-commerce

Social acceptance and awareness play a major role in the initial adoption stage for e-commerce development. The level of confidence, risk aversion, and inertia among firms are critical factors for adopting e-commerce, as are awareness, knowledge, and understanding of e-commerce opportunities. The consumers often have low level of (i) awareness and knowledge of e-commerce benefits; (ii) general and computer literacy, along with English proficiency; (iii) trust in e-commerce vendors, postal services, and other logistics; and (iv) perception of foreign products and/or vendors. This presents a variety of challenges for developing e-commerce

Developing e-payment systems

E-payment companies can take advantage of the fast growing e-commerce market in Asia and the Pacific. Two ways they can do this are by focusing on the unbanked or by partnering with local banks. Although there are plenty of options in advanced e-commerce markets (Chan 2017), less-advanced e-commerce markets have large growth opportunities.

Providing logistics and delivery services

There are many ways e-commerce firms and logistics service providers can increase delivery efficiency for products ordered online. For example, Lazada developed its own logistics and delivery infrastructure in Vietnam —and is ranked first in terms of e-commerce revenue in the country (Hanoitimes 2017). Additionally, DHL eCommerce—which offers end-to-end domestic delivery service to Thailand’s e-commerce merchants— has expanded its services to cover 100% of the Thai market in 2017, with the help of 200 service points from which one can send and receive parcels. The company has then added 300 more points in Thailand in the first quarter of 2018 and is planning to reach over 1,000 such points in the coming months (DHL 2017a, 2017b, 2018). Investment in new technology to enhance e-commerce business models Investment in latest technologies can help firms create powerful business models. For instance, Wifi “sniffers”, “beacons”, and other methods can be used to collect data on visitors to retail outlets.The data help determine store traffic flow. Other investments include the use of improved personalization of pages viewed by shoppers (Lucas 2017) and, as mentioned, use of drones for delivery (Huang 2017).

Bibliography

1. https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/168517/1/Marcus-Petropoulos-Jitsuzumi.pdf
2. https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/430401/embracing-e-commerce-revolution.pdf
3. https://go.rakutenmarketing.com/hubfs/201808-GMT-1014-RM-APAC-eCommerce-Report-FINAL.pdf
4. https://www.cloudways.com/blog/asia-pacific-ecommerce-challenges-opportunities/

Review of Shift from Commerce to E-commerce in India: Analytical Essay

Abstract

Integration of business deals with the technology has brought the revolution in the trading sector. Traditional aspects of doing businesses have been transformed into e-commercial sector. Todays, E-commerce has entirely revolutionized the conventional thought of business, supported by huge internet users & android mobile phones; Indian e-commerce has been witnessing remarkable growth and gradual advancement in the last few years. Considering India’s demographic variable & growing internet accessibility, the sector is expected to scale greater heights. Commercial sector is quickly transforming into e-commercial now. This paper tries to portray the present scenario and facilitators of E-Commerce and the phases of transformation from conventional commerce to technologically advanced E-commerce.

Keywords: Business, Technology, Mobile Phones, Internet, Commercial.

Introduction

India has emerged as one of the major players on the new international business prospect. Its relentless economic development since reforms in 1991 has become the focus of concentration for researchers in the field of international business and management. The year 1991 illustrated a new episode in the history of the internet world where e-commerce became a sizzling option amongst the online commercial users. It was difficult for the millennial to predict that online trading will become a trend in the world and India will contribute to a good proportion of this success. Commerce has altogether revolutionized the lives of people around the world and its growth in India is remarkable which is difficult to show any signs of decline in near future. Trading of goods and services with the help of electronic channels and internet is termed as E-commerce. E-business is a route to conducting traditional form of business in an innovative way with the help of the internet network and by using Electronic Data Interchange as the means. E-Commerce relates to the website of the vendor or retailer, who sells products or services directly to the customer from the gateway using a digital shopping cart and allows payment through the usage of plastic money or electronic fund transfer payments. E-commerce has not only provided platform for the customers to transact online but has provided the opportunity to the retailers and many manufacturers to showcase their products online without any intermediaries.

Objectives of study

1. To evaluate the present trends of e-commerce in India
2. To evaluate the growth factors responsible for e-commerce in India

Review of literature

1. Abhijit Mitra, (2013) in his article “E-Commerce in India-A review “an attempt is made to analyse the present status and facilitators of E-Commerce in India, In this study it has been found that, there has been a tremendous increase in the number of companies opting for E-Commerce. In his study he has focussed on barriers which the E-commerce companies are facing.
2. Madhukar Sarode, (2015) in his paper concluded that eCommerce has become the future of shopping for consumerism and the gap between manufacturer and consumer has been reduced due to e-commerce. There is vast scope for e-commerce in India but due to weak cyber law, people are facing challenges in India.
3. Rajendra Madhukar Sarode, (2015) E-commerce is altering the way of buying & selling of product & services in India. The growth of e-commerce has been extended in rural as well as urban area at reasonable cost, due to which more people are getting connected with e-commerce & the ratio of that is getting increasing day by day.
4. Rajasekar and Agarwal, (2016) in their study of impact on India’s e-commerce revealed that success of E-commerce depends to a greater extent on effective IT systems for which it is necessary to strengthen technological developments. Many organizations, and communities in India are investing a lot to take advantage of the potential of e-commerce, there needs to be some provisions to overcome the challenges before e-commerce would become a practice for common people.
5. Mita Mehta, (2016) purpose of this study reveals consumer behaviour and their preference towards adopting mobile marketing as a revolution towards new shift in the rapidly developing e-Commerce segment. It has been analysed that convenience factor has become one of the major reasons for the consumers to go online.

Research methodology

The study is based on secondary data that has been collected from various articles, journals, books, websites etc, and literature review of researcher’s previously worked in this field. The research is used to study the evaluation, conceptual framework, present trends or scenario, growth facilitators and challenges faced by e-commerce. The study includes current data available to make the work more effective and the analysis of the same has been interpreted. The paper is mostly comprises of secondary base & proper references have been given wherever necessary.

Commerce to E-commerce

It all started with barter system and the progress continues. Previously transactions were done which involved goods in exchange of goods and then evolved the currency and the transactions were in cash denominations. Traditionally before revolution into the commercial sector, commerce meant trading of goods and services. Business during Gen X was like a physical commercial activity with involvement of many intermediaries to sell or exchange the goods and services. People had the psyche of cash transactions. Format of business was a risky venture due to lot of uncertainty. Now with the revolution in the commercial sector came up a new era of business known as E-Commerce, currencies took the new form of plastic money and electronic fund transfer. With the initiative of Indian government to provide ease to the customers, firstly E-commerce services were provided by IRCTC and the story began.

Emergence of E-commerce

E-Commerce

E-Commerce market is a digital commerce market in India. It is an innovation which has shifted the traditional way of doing businesses in a innovative way. E-commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services, or the transfer of funds or data, over an electronic system, primarily the Internet. These business deals are business-to-consumer, business-to-business, consumer-to-consumer or consumer-to-business. It has become an online platform for the retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers and consumers to trade online easily and conveniently. E-commerce in India has got a remarkable growth because of the technological revolution and its adaptation into commercial sector. Growth of E-commerce in India has been backed by innumerable mobiles users and wide connectivity of internet. E-Commerce has occupied the major market share in India’s shoppers mind. ( Dr. Rajasekar, 2016)

Facilitators of E-Commerce in India

Since its evolution there have been number of facilitators or divers which has been contributing continuously in the growth of E-Commerce market. A large market size, young and aspirational consumer base, ever increasing digital revolution, and adoption of new age technology are some of the factors adding to this line-up. Below are the major contributors for the change, (Source. Kya Zoonga).

1. Increasing income levels

• Increasing purchasing power of people
• Increasing disposable income of the urban youth

2. Changes in the socio-economic environment

• Rising middle-class incomes
• Changing demographics (approx 50 % of the population is below 25 years of age)
• Reach to global brands

3. Change in the technological landscape

• Rise in internet usage and 4G penetration
• Increasing smart phone users with wide availability of internet on mobile phones
• Delivering high quality user experience

4. Changing Patterns of Consumer Behaviour

• Less time to spend in travelling to places and shopping
• Increase in expenditure for luxury items
• Increased population of Brand Conscious consumers

5. Changing mindset and outlook of Indian customers

• Indians becoming more aware and embracing the idea of online shopping

Growing share of E-Commerce market has witnessed the increased share of digital buyers through online transactions, below graph shows the increasing trend of Digital buyers from the year 2014 to the forecast till the year 2020(in millions) and this increase has led to the development of major e-commerce market.

E-commerce trends

E-commerce has approached a long way since its foundation and is only getting bestest day by day. As technology continues to cultivate swiftly, e-commerce retailers are adopting innovative techniques to ease sellers and buyers to buy and sell online more effectively, all credit to ever dropping charges of internet surfing – both for web and mobile interfaces – which is complimenting to the soaring population of internet users. It has been the major source of driving the trend for ecommerce. The growth of social platforms through internet and huge adoption of smart phones is acting as a vehicle to accelerate this drive further, shaping the e-commerce trends for the Indian market. According to a report by India brand equity foundation, Dec 2018,E-Commerce market has been propelled by increasing smart phone penetration, the launch of 4G networks and increasing consumer affluence, the Indian e-commerce market is expected to grow to US$ 200 billion by 2026

• Flipkart, after its acquisition by Wal-Mart for US$ 16 billion, is expected to start more offline retail stores in India to encourage private brands in segments such as fashion and electronics. In September 2018, Flipkart acquired Israel based analytics start-up Upstream Commerce that will facilitate the firm in pricing and positioning its products in an efficient way.
• Paytm has launched its bank – Paytm Payment Bank, Paytm bank is India’s first bank with zero charges on online transactions, no minimum balance requirement and free virtual debit card.

The graph presents the revenue generated by e-commerce market in India in 2017, and provides a forecast until 2023. E-commerce revenue in India is expected to grow to 51.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2023.Statista’s Digital Market Outlook offers forecasts, detailed market insights and essential performance indicators related to the revenue contributed by E-commerce retail market in India, this increasing trend in revenue shows the remarkable growth the E-commerce retail sector contributes towards the success of Indian retail market intotal.

As per Statista’s Digital Market Outlook it reports the increase in annual E-commerce sales from the year 2017 to the forecasts of sales in the year 2022 which shows the clear picture that the growth in sales has been continuous, means the e-commerce market will always be witnessing increasing sales because of the growing technology and higher adoption rate of online shopping behaviour of the customers, there will always be boon in this market.

Benefits of E-Commerce

Indian E-Commerce portals provide goods and services in a variety of categories like apparel and accessories for men and women, health and beauty products, books and magazines, etc. Retailers and traders due to e-commerce have got the leverage of common platform for doing business. This revolution has provided the consumers with large variety and options of products and services to browse and search without any inconvenience. Individuals are at a gain to find branded merchandise at low cost. IT revolution has changed the retail industry by just a click to buy or sell online through internet and different payment gateways.

Challenges

Though India has been witnessing growth but it’s still faces some challenges due to India being still a developing country and its rural areas still being underdeveloped .Multiple issues of trust in e-commerce technology and lack of widely accepted standards, lack of payment gateways, privacy of personal and business data connected over the Internet, no assurance for security and non confidentiality of data and non maintenance of IT Infrastructure. Lack of technical skills of consumers to operate the smart phones has also become a challenge for E-commerce market.

Conclusion

A developing country shall attempt to be modernized and advanced if it introduces e-commerce effectively and efficiently, this would increase its productivity and make it competitively more challenging. Digital revolution has uplifted ecommerce worldwide. With the expansion of internet connectivity through mobile devices like Smartphone and tablets, millions of consumers are making decisions online and in this way enterprises can build the brand digitally and enhance productivity but government support and initiatives must ensure the cost effective methods/solutions. E-commerce has not only progressed in retail sector but also has resulted in the growth and advancement of the economy.

References

1. Dr. Rajasekar, S. A Study on Impact of E-Commerce on India’s Commerce, International Journal Of Development Research, ISSN: 2230-9926, 2016
2. Mita Mehta, Paradigm Shift in Mobile Marketing and E-Commerce: The Indian Perspective, International Journal of Management and Applied Science, Issn: 2394-7926 Volume-2, Issue-6, Jun.-2016
3. Abhijit Mitra “E-Commerce in India-A Review”, International Journal Of Marketing, Financial Services And Management Research, 2013.
4. Rajasekar and Agarwal (2016) “A Study of Impact of India-Commerce on India’s Commerce” Indian Journal of Development and Research, Vol. 6, Issue 03, , ISSN -7253-7256, March, 2016
5. Rajendra Madhukar Sarode, Future of E-Commerce in India Challenges & Opportunities, International Journal of Applied Research 2015, ISSN: 2394-7500
6. Madhukar Sarode, Rajendra, Future of E-Commerce in India Challenges and Opportunities, International Journal of Applied Research, Vol. I (12), 646-650. 2015
7. https://www.ibef.org/IndiaNowMagazine_eVersions/IndiaNow_Vol4_Issue5/files/assets/downloads/page0064.pdf
8. Sayani Coomar, 2mita Mehta, 3arti Chandani, Paradigm Shift In Mobile Marketing And E-Commerce:The Indian Perspective International Journal Of Management And Applied Science, ISSN: 2394-7926,2016.

Antecedents of Trust towards Purchasing Decision Via Social Commerce: Analytical Essay

Abstract

Purpose – The development of social media has given rise to a new e-commerce paradigm called social commerce. Social commerce is a social interactions and user contributions to facilitate the online buying and selling of various products and services. Recent years have witnessed the rapid growth of social commerce in Malaysia, but this growth has involved a number of transaction-related issues. In particular, consumers’ trust has become a crucial factor in the success of social commerce firms, requiring these firms to make more effort to gain this trust. In this regard, this study identifies the key factors in social commerce that is influencing Malaysian consumers’ trust in social commerce. In addition, the study assesses the moderating effects of perceived risk on trust in seller that influence the purchase decision via social commerce. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of each kind of trust on the intention to purchase products using social media platform.

Design/Methodology/Approach – An online structured questionnaire was used to collect data from respondents. A total of 168 responses from Malaysian social commerce users were collected and analyzed with SmartPLS.

Findings – Results show that perceived integrity and perceived reputation significantly influence trust in seller towards purchase intention in social commerce positively. However, perceived ability and perceived benevolence negatively impact the users’ attitude. In addition, perceived risk significantly affect the relationship between perceived benevolence and trust in seller. Trust in sellers positively affects the consumers in purchase decisions via social commerce.

Originality/Value – This study contributes to the literature of trust’s antecedent and moderating effect of perceived risk in social commerce. A new perspective and variable, perceived reputation and perceived risk was tested in the model. The model showed that Model of Trust and Theory of Planned Behavior have extensive power to explain the extent of trust that influence purchase intention via social commerce. This study investigates the variable that influence the complete life cycle usage of mobile commerce applications. The research findings are useful for social commerce business owners, application developers and business managers to formulate strategies to increase the purchase intention among Malaysian consumers.

Keywords – Social Commerce, Perceived Integrity, Perceived Ability, Perceived Reputation, Perceived Risk, Trust in seller, Intention to Purchase.

Paper Type – Research paper

Introduction

Web 2.0 social media applications, for example, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn create new opportunities for e-vendors (M. N. Hajli, 2014) that allow people to participate actively in the marketing and selling of products and services in online marketplaces and communities (Goldenberg et al., 2010). The advanced development of social media has revolutionized the way online shopping or known as e-commerce is accomplished, called social commerce (Yakimin, Talib, & Rusly, 2015). Social media is a tool for sharing information among communities such as product and service information and plays as an important driver of online purchase and sale of goods and social media increased its share of e-commerce referrals by nearly 200% between the first quarters of 2014 and 2015 (Kian, Boon, Fong, & Ai, 2017) (Kassim, Bhattarai, Zamzuri, & Othman, 2017). It is important to study the process and uniqueness of how consumers behave in this setting to harness the power of social commerce (Zhang & Benyoucef, 2016).

Trust has become a valuable and scarce commodity in late modernity (Jalaldeen, Razi, Izzuddin, & Tamrin, 2017). Trust is an essential element in any transaction in which it will occur when there is willingness and trust among sellers and buyers (Kian et al., 2017). According to M. N. Hajli, (2014), trust can now be supported by social commerce as social commerce includes social interactions of consumers in which increase the level of trust. Considering trust as a critical aspect of e-commerce, the study conducted by N. Hajli (2015), is being directed to investigate the role of social interactions of consumers through social commerce constructs in order to establish trust in e-commerce platforms. Therefore, it is purported that trust plays a significant role in successfully conducting transactions in the virtual space of the Internet.

However, although consumers’ trust in seller via social commerce may affect consumers’ online purchase decisions, few studies have examined which factors influence their trust in the seller from social media users. This issue is important since the phenomenon of social shopping is rising and online shoppers are becoming accustomed to sharing their detailed observations (Asur & Huberman, 2010). Accordingly, the reasons why people trust in seller on social media shopping networks provide merit further investigation. Hence this study attempts to examine the impact of each kind of trust on the intention to purchase products using social media platform.

The main research question of this study is to what extent do trust impacts on behavioral intentions of customers to use social commerce? The model of the study is developed by integrating constructs of trust with the behavioral theory. The model developed for this study adapts constructs of trust developed by Mayer et al. (1995) to examine customers’ trust of sellers. Finally, constructs of planned behavior that are used to explore behavioral intentions of customers to purchase using social commerce are adapted from the Behavioral Theory developed by Ajzen (1991).

Literature review

Social Commerce

Social media is a platform of social interaction among people whereas communities create, share or exchange information (Hashim, Nor, & Janor, 2016). Social media can also serve as tools facilitating intra- and inter-organizational activities among peers, customers, business partners, and organizations; such as collaborative product development, creation of knowledge-sharing communities, implementation of corporate dialog at financial institutions, marketing strategies for brand management, and collaborative learning and creativity (Ngai, Tao, & Moon, 2015).

Social Commerce can be defined as the use of social media for business transactions and activities which are driven primarily by social interactions and user contributions (Hew, Lee, Ooi, & Lin, 2016). Social commerce is regarded as a new category of e-commerce (Huang & Benyoucef, 2013), or the birth of a “referral economy” benefiting from the advantages of interactive information technology infrastructure (Wang, 2012). Social commerce has gone way beyond an increased presence within social networks, and now creates economic value as well (Zhou, Zhang, & Zimmermann, 2013).

Social commerce intention is a measurement of how to anticipate a possible consumer’s actions. This new stream, social commerce, tries to use the commercial opportunities in social media with the relationships in networks and communities to gain commercial advantages. These commercial advantages can lead the business to increase their sales or improve customer loyalty. ‘Intention to use’ has been thoroughly investigated before through the introduction of related theories such as theory of reasoned action, theory of technology acceptance model and theory of planned behavior (M. N. Hajli, 2014).

Model of Trust developed by Mayer et al., (1995)

This approach is used to understand why a given party will have a greater or lesser amount of trust for another party is to consider the attributes of the trustee (Mayer, Davis, Schoorman, Mayer, & Davis, 2011). Three-dimensional generic typologies of trust (D. J. Kim, Ferrin, & Rao, 2003) described of in the literature are ability, benevolence, and integrity. In the context of social networks, the ability is also the influential antecedent to establishing trust among members who are usually centered on a specific mutual interest, hobby, event, etc. (Mayer et al., 1995). Benevolence is the perception of a positive orientation of the trustee toward the trustor (Mayer et al., 2011). The relationship between integrity and trust involves a trustee who adheres to moral standards such as honesty could enhance a trustor’s confidence in the trustee’s behavior (Mayer et al., 1995).

The study of Lin et al., (2010), found that cognitive trust positively affects consumers’ attitudes toward building trust in product recommendations through social networks. Y. Lu, Zhao, & Wang (2010) also found that the three interpersonal trust significantly influences C2C e-commerce buyers in purchase intention. Thus, the following hypotheses are proposed:

• H1: Perceived ability has a positive impact on trust in seller towards purchasing decisions via social commerce.
• H2: Perceived benevolence has positive impacts on trust in seller towards purchasing decisions via social commerce.
• H3: Perceived integrity has a positive impact on trust in seller towards purchasing decisions via social commerce.

Perceived Reputation

In terms of the characteristics of social commerce can be described as the extent to which consumers believe that a firm is honest and concerned about its customers whereby a firm with a good reputation or image enjoys a higher level of customers’ trust (S. Kim & Park, 2013). In addition, a good reputation is a valuable intangible asset for many e-retailers and provides consumers with potential cues for enhancing trust (Lin et al., 2010). Thus, creating a positive reputation is particularly important for those companies to be successful.

Broutsou & Fitsilis (2012) claimed that consumers’ perception of the reputation of an e-commerce site plays a key role in building their trust in that site. Therefore, a good reputation has to be forged to increase consumers’ trust. Previous studies of e-commerce have demonstrated a close relationship between reputation and trust (Lin et al., 2010). Social commerce users are likely to consider a firm’s reputation as an important factor in evaluating their trust in the firm when purchasing products or services. In this regard, the following hypothesis is proposed:

• H4: Perceived reputation has positive impacts on trust in seller towards purchasing decision via social commerce.

Perceived Risk

It is common that individuals are anxious about the possible risk linked with a new information system. In the case of online shopping the perception of risk significantly affects the customer intention (Ahmed et al., 2013).

According to Verhagen, Meents, & Tan (2006), a behavioral risk which refers to the uncertainties that arise because online seller can behave opportunistically by taking advantage of the distant and impersonal nature of online transactions and the intermediary’s inability to carefully monitor all transactions. Moreover, party risk addresses the uncertainties that arise since one is unsure about the offers of the selling party and the seller’s ability and willingness to perform which are reflective of perceived ability, benevolence and integrity into measures of both trust and trustworthiness (Gefen, Rao, & Tractinsky, 2002). For instance, sellers can include misleading product information, use false identities, ignore warranties or commit fraud (Verhagen et al., 2006). Perceived risk as the buyers’ subjective belief of a probability of suffering a loss when engaging in transaction with members of the community of sellers. By offering the information and services including information about regulations and procedure, the reputation of the seller and privacy statements that consumer demand for, consumers are able to cope with perceptions of risk (Ahmed et al., 2013).

Therefore, those customers who believe that there is low perceived risk while purchasing via social commerce have positive intention to purchase online and the other customers who believe that it is very risky to purchase in social media platform have negative intention to purchase online and consequently, they postpone their purchase or finally drop it (Al-Naseer et al., 2016). In this regard, the following hypotheses are proposed:

• H5(a): Perceived risk negatively moderates the relationship between perceived ability and trust in seller.
• H5(b): Perceived risk negatively moderates the relationship between perceived benevolence and trust in seller.
• H5(c): Perceived risk negatively moderates the relationship between perceived integrity and trust in seller.
• H5(d): Perceived risk negatively moderates the relationship between perceived reputation and trust in seller.

Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)

The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is derived from the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (Ajzen, 2015). TPB can be described as the assumption that human beings usually behave in a sensible manner. Therefore, TPB is remarkable and widely adopted in studies of human behavior, including social commerce (Ajzen, 2014).

Trust in Seller

The definition of trust in seller proposed in this research is the willingness of a party to be vulnerable to the actions of the seller based on the expectation that the seller will perform a particular action important to the trustor, irrespective of the ability to monitor or control their customers (Corbitt, Thanasankit, & Yi, 2003). Trust in seller have been derived from the antecedent of attitude towards behavior in theory of planned behavior (TPB) (McCole, Ramsey, & Williams, 2010). Trust can be viewed as a significant antecedent belief that creates a positive attitude toward the transaction behavior (Rofiq, 2012), which in turn leads to transaction intentions. Trust helps reduce the social complexity and vulnerability that a buyer feels in social commerce by allowing the buyer to subjectively rule out undesirable yet possible behaviors of the sellers (B. Lu, Fan, & Zhou, 2016).

Prior studies related to user behavior and social media have highlighted the crucial role of trust in stimulating favorable responses for any medium to be used in the future (B. Lu et al., 2016) (Jalaldeen et al., 2017). Researchers have shown that online peer recommendations influence trust and affect consumers’ purchase intentions (Lin et al., 2010). Accordingly, Nadeem, Andreini, Salo, & Laukkanen (2015) found that people are more likely to trust information from other consumers than from companies. With the increase of social technologies and the interconnectivity of people on the Internet, there is a need for some sort of trust and security that will allow two parties to reduce their perceived risk in transactions (N. Hajli, 2015).

Our literature review reveals the expectation that a shift in attitude towards trust in seller would increase the purchase intention via social commerce. Thus, we propose that:

• H6: Trust in sellers has positive direct impacts on purchasing decisions via social commerce.

Intention to Purchase via Social Commerce

Intention to purchase refers to the degree to which a consumer intends to purchase from a certain vendor through the social media (D. J. Kim et al., 2003). Because of the inherent nature of social commerce, trust plays a central role in transactions (Kian et al., 2017). A survey by Aliyar & Mutambala (2015), investigated the behavior of customers in purchasing cosmetics through online and found that customers’ intention to buy was influenced by trust. Subsequent research drew similar conclusions, indicating that consumers’ trust in seller affected their intention to purchase from the social networking (Chen & Shen, 2015; S. Kim & Park, 2013; B. Lu et al., 2016; Y. Lu et al., 2010; Ng, 2013).

Research methodology

The aim of the study was to determine the impact of trust on purchasing decision via social commerce in Malaysia and to achieve this, survey research design was employed.

As discussed in the previous chapter, the objective of this study is to investigate Malaysian customers’ intentions to purchase via social commerce. Therefore, this research determined the population of the study as all social commerce users in Malaysia. The units being analyzed for this study are the individuals consists of the user of social media who make purchase transactions via social commerce. This study applied non-probability sampling, namely Snowball sampling. Snowball sampling is a type of nonrandom sample in which the researcher begins with one case, then, based on information about interrelationships from that case, identifies other cases, and then repeats the process again and again (Berg, 2014). In this research, G*Power is used to minimize sample size needed (P, 2017). The total sample size requires for this study is 166 respondents who need to answer the online survey provided.

Primary data was collected by one of the main structured questionnaires that captured the various variables of the study. This study collected data from respondents through an online survey. A questionnaire is used as the primary instrument for data collections. This section uses 6-point Likert scales, ranging from one for strongly disagree to six for strongly agree. Scale is considered to be the new approach of Renis Likert rating scale to measure personal attributes which is the respondents cannot choose the moderate value, middle point in this kind of rating scale because the respondents have to choose between one of the two qualifications of the scale to be the answer, thus the respondents have to consider for a level (Abdul, 2010). Secondary data was obtained from literature sources or data collected by other people for some other purposes. Secondary data was collected through review of published literature such as journals articles, published theses and textbooks. PLS-SEM method makes the researchers able to examine the reliability and validity of the construct measures. The hypotheses were tested using Structural equation modelling method.

Findings and result

A structural equation modelling (SEM) approach was chosen to analyze the collected data through the software SmartPLS 3. According to Wong, (2013) this approach is freely available to academics and researchers, but also because it has a friendly user interface and advanced reporting features. Furthermore, SmartPLS is one of the prominent software applications for Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) (Wong, 2013). In this study data analysis was carried out by a two-stage method which are the measurement model and the structure model.

Measurement model

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test the measurement model. As shown in Table 2, all of the Cronbach’s alpha values are above 0.7. Since these values are above the acceptable level of 0.7, these constructs are deemed to display adequate reliability.

Convergent validity measures the agreement among multiple items measuring the same construct. The convergent validity of measures can be verified by three criteria which are all item loadings should be significant and exceed 0.7, composite reliabilities should exceed 0.7, and average variance extracted (AVE) for each construct should exceed 0.50. Table 2 shows that all the item loadings except ITP4 (0.661) exceed the threshold of 0.7. The results demonstrate that the measures are reasonably convergent on their respective constructs.

Discriminant validity checks the degree to which measures of one construct are empirically distinct from the other constructs (S. Kim & Park, 2013b). To check for discriminant validity, we employed the new criterion of the Heterotrait-Monotrait ratio of correlations (HTMT) in Table 3. HTMT is a new method for assessing discriminant validity in partial least squares structural equation modeling in which when constructs are conceptually more distinct, a lower, more conservative, threshold value is suggested (HTMT < 0.85) (Hair, Risher, Sarstedt, & Ringle, 2018). However, Hair et al., (2018) proposed a threshold value of HTMT < 0.90 for structural models with constructs that are conceptually very similar.

Table 2 lists the results, with correlations among constructs and the square roots of AVE on the diagonal. The square roots of AVE on the diagonal are higher than the inter-construct correlations, representing the examination of discriminant validity is acceptable. To sum up, the measurement model demonstrates adequate reliability, convergent validity and discriminant validity.

Structural model

For the structural model analysis, each proposed hypothesis in the research model was examined. Table 4 shows the standardized path coefficients between constructs as well as the variance explained, R2 for each dependent variable. R2 is used to measure predictive accuracy of the model that explain the amount of variation in the variables explained by all the variables linked (S. Kim & Park, 2013). In this study found that the construct explained 25.3 percent of the variance in the intention to purchase via social commerce.

Bootstrapping analysis with subsample test of 2000 used to generate path coefficient, t-value and p-value. This is to examine the relationship between independent variables and dependent variables. PLS-SEM evaluate how good the structural model predicted the hypothesis relationships.

The finding further indicated that perceived ability and perceived benevolence are found not statistically significantly impact on trust in seller, with path coefficients at β=0.103, (p> 0.1) and β=0.437, (p> 0.1) respectively. This is followed by perceived integrity and perceived reputation, which exerts the significant impacts on trust in seller which involve in social commerce with path coefficients at β=0.000, (p< 0.001) and β=0.000, (p< 0.001) respectively. Trust in seller imposes an influence on social commerce intention, with a path coefficient at β=0.000, (p< 0.001).

Table 3 shows the moderating effect of perceived risk on purchase intention. Results show that perceived benevolence has a negative effect on trust in seller (β=0.014, p < 0.05), when perceived risk is higher, supporting H5(b). However, perceived risk does not moderate the relationship between perceived ability and trust in seller (β=0.081, p > 0.05), the relationship between perceived integrity and trust in seller (β=0.122, p > 0.1), as well as the relationship between perceived reputation and trust in seller (β=.483, p > 0.1), respectively not supporting H5(a), H5(c) and H5(d).

In figure 2 indicates the moderating effect of perceived risk on the relationship between perceived benevolence and trust in seller. The graph shows low perceived risk will result on positive impact of the relationship between perceived benevolence and trust in seller. Meanwhile, high perceived risk will attain negative impact of the relationship between perceived benevolence and trust in seller.

Discussion

Hypothesis 1 (H1) and Hypothesis 2 (H2) suggested that perceived ability and perceived benevolence respectively has no significant impacts on trust in seller towards purchasing decision via social commerce. The result of the study not supported the hypotheses, and it was not accepted. This is not corresponding to the finding of Lin et al., (2010) in the context of social shopping.

Moreover, Hypothesis 3 (H3) and Hypothesis 4 (H4) implied that perceived integrity and perceived reputation respectively has positive impacts on trust in seller towards purchasing decision via social commerce. The result of the study supported the hypotheses, and it was accepted. This is corresponding to the previous study of Lin et al., (2010) and Kim & Park, (2013) where their studies focusing on the social commerce have found that perceived integrity and reputation respectively plays a significant role in purchase intention.

Hypothesis 5, H5(b) suggested that perceived risk negatively moderates the relationship between perceived benevolence and trust in seller. The result of the study supported the hypothesis, and it was accepted. This is corresponding to the previous study Ahmed et al., (2013) where it found that moderating role of perceived risk plays a significant role in purchase intention.

Hypothesis 6 (H6) implied that trust in seller has positive direct impacts towards purchasing decision via social commerce. The result of the study supported the hypothesis, and it was accepted. From this study, we know that trust is once of factor leading to attitude towards purchase intention. This is corresponding with the finding in Lu, Zhao, & Wang, (2010); Nadeem, Andreini, Salo, & Laukkanen, (2015); Lin et al., (2010) in the area of e-commerce; consumer online ; and online product recommendation respectively.

Conclusion

This study is aimed to investigate the extent of trust impact purchase decision via social commerce. The results show that both perceived integrity and perceived reputation positively influence trust in seller directly affect purchase intention. However, it is also evident from the results that perceived ability and perceived benevolence do not impact trust in seller to purchase via social commerce. Moreover, this study demonstrates that perceived risk has a negative moderator role in the relationship between perceived benevolence and trust in seller however the other antecedents do not interact with trust in seller to create a negative influence on purchase intention.

However, the presented conceptual model does not capture the alternative antecedents of trust such as knowledge-based, characteristic-based, institution-based, and personality-based with the online environment. Future research may replicate this study by including these factors as antecedent and be able to explore a factor triggering trust factor in purchase intention via social commerce. Therefore, we believe that future researchers will find the area of consumer motivations and perceptions in social commerce a rich and fruitful area for the literature.

Mobile Commerce in India: Prospect and Challenges

Abstract:

With the development of mobile industry in India and easy accessibility of internet connections to the common people, the electronic commerce is changing its face and turning into mobile commerce. M-commerce has become an easier tool in the hands of users due to its better features and simplicity in its learning and using. M-commerce, being the non-complex way of using the technology, has seen tremendous growth in the recent years and has become very popular among common people of India for online shopping and paying various utility bills. M-commerce is more user friendly as it requires only a smart phone with internet connection in it. But still many people are hesitant in shifting from e-commerce to m-commerce due to security and privacy issues and complexity of mobile applications. This paper strives to understand the concept of m-commerce, analyse its growth drivers in the country and the problems faced by the users.

Introduction:

Mobile commerce was introduced by Kevin Duffey at the launch of the Global Mobile Commerce Forum. It is the process of delivering electronic transactions directly into the customers’ hand, 24*7, using wireless technology. It connects the people through wireless networks without requiring heavy and costly gadgets like computers and laptops, thus enabling them to execute transactions with the touch of a screen. M-commerce is a step ahead of electronic commerce as e-commerce provides the services at doorstep whereas m-commerce facilitates services into the hand of the customer. India has witnessed an impressive rise in m-commerce. According to a report released by Consulting firm Zinnov, the market share of the country in m-commerce was $2 billion in 2014 and is estimated to grow up to $19 billion by 2019 (Srinivas, Feb 2016). The basic reason of this growth is the availability of cheap smart phones and the offering of low priced mobile data plans by numerous companies prevailing in the market. M-commerce has recently become an easy and affordable channel for reaching customers.

Objectives of the study:

1. To understand the concept of M-commerce.
2. To study the benefits and growth drivers of M-commerce in India
3. To find out the issues and challenges of M-commerce in India

M-Commerce – The Concept

“M-commerce is the use of mobile devices to communicate, inform, transact and entertain using text and data via a connection to public and private networks.” (Lehman Brothers)

“The core of mobile e-commerce is the use of a terminal (telephone, PDA, PC device or custom terminal) and public mobile network to access information and conduct transactions that result in the transfer of value in exchange of information, services or goods.” (Ovum)

“Business-to-consumer transactions conducted from a mobile device.” (J.P.Morgan)

“The use of mobile handled devices to communicate, interact via an always-on high-speed connection to the internet.” (Forrester)

The different areas that come under M-commerce are money transfers, bill payments, purchasing airline tickets, purchasing movie tickets, restaurant bookings, hotel booking and reservations and shopping products and ordering food. M-Commerce is online anywhere, anytime and on any device and it is providing new opportunities to the world. So, we can sum up m-commerce as

M-Commerce = Internet+ E-Commerce+ Wireless

Review of Literature:

Habib and Sarwar (2012) believed that m-commerce is being focused for future growth by telecommunication industry and other businesses and m-commerce players in India needs to work fast to improve user interface and offer innovative pricing structures.

Batra and Juneja (2013) lists the issues being faced by mobile industry in India. They reflected that it is adding significant value to the businesses in India and in times to come Mobile Commerce is expected to become more safe and secure as both government and the companies are investing on security aspect to provide better services to users and safeguard their interests.

Chauhan and Dalal (2014) studied the future prospects of m-commerce in India. According to them, use of e-commerce has become easier as mobile commerce led to the growth of e-commerce. The increasing trend of smart phones and online shopping in the developing India promoted the growth of m-commerce. With the introduction of faster internet technologies such as 4G and improved security, m-commerce has grown rapidly in the country.

Gupta and Vyas (2014) identified the factors affecting the adoption of m-commerce and made an attempt to find out the benefits and hurdles faced by m-commerce in India. They also discussed the spectrum of m-commerce in India and how could it be enlarged.

Srinivas D (2016) reported the facts of feasibility of m-commerce in India and stated that no doubt there is an increasing trend towards usage of e-commerce but still people hesitate to use m-commerce due to security problems, payment issues and complexity of mobile applications.

Naware (2016) stated that development of low cost smart phones and low mobile tariffs led to tremendous growth in mobile internet subscribers and m-commerce in India. Mobility, flexibility, reachability are the features and tiny screen, low processing power of mobile device, security of mobile transactions are the limitations of m-commerce.

Mobile Commerce: A Winning Edge

There are numerous features of mobile commerce which make popular among the people of the country. Some of these are described as below:

• Easy to use:

The various applications used in mobile commerce are simple and easy to be used by a common man. These applications do not require any special skills or knowledge.

• Savings in time and energy:

The users of m-commerce are benefitted in terms of savings in both time and energy. The user can pay various bills like electricity bill by using his internet enabled smart phone. Various recharges can be done comfortably by the user within very less time. In this way the user is benefitted in terms of savings in time and energy.

• Secure transactions:

To save the user from frauds, the proper system of security has been provided for the m-commerce users. The users are given login ID and password to operate and perform the transactions. One time password is also generated to confirm the authenticity of the user. Thus, there is proper security of M-payments.

• Facilitates better deals:

Using mobile applications, the user can search the required product on various shopping applications like Myntra, Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon. The customer can check the available designs, colours and reviews of the products previously used by another customers and can compare the prices at different sellers’ outlets.

• Issues and Challenges:

Numerous factors are responsible for the slow growth of mobile commerce in India. There are direct and indirect issues and problems which are proving to be hurdles in its growth among the common people. The main issues and challenges are:

• Limited data transmission bandwidth:

It is the major obstacle in the growth of mobile commerce in the country. The data transmission bandwidth is very limited in India as compared to the other countries of the world. Even the user has latest hardware gadget, one cannot have a faster access to web contents.

• Less development of wireless internet infrastructure:

Indian government has not yet provided such sufficient infrastructure for the growth of wireless industry without which the mobile commerce market is handicapped.

• Security issues:

Hackers and viruses are major security issues which demotivates the users for frequently using mobile commerce for their routine transactions like paying of bills through Google Pay and making electronic payments for online shopping.

• Privacy:

The users are required to disclose their secret information while performing the monetary transactions and there exists the fear of hacking of secret information by the hackers. This factor will continue to hamper the growth of mobile commerce market even if the other issues like low speed and poor connectivity are taken care of.

• Language barrier:

Still a large portion of Indian population is not familiar with English language and many are not good in writing and reading skills, so language becomes major barrier in development of mobile commerce in India.

• Less awareness:

Indians are still not aware about uses and benefits of mobile commerce. People are reluctant to adopt mobile banking for making payments and buying goods due to several reasons.

• Research online and purchase offline tendency of people:

A large number of people who have access to smart phone, have adequate internet connection but use the facility only to view the variety of products available with the companies but tend to buy or make payments by visiting the shops and stores. People are using m-commerce to make comparisons of prices but do not tend to buy online due to lengthy and cumbersome returning policies.

Complex mobile applications:

The m-commerce applications are more complex than e-commerce websites. Indians are generally less technology literate, so they find it difficult to use these applications and hence they prefer to make payments through cash or bank drafts.

Indians are more technology lovers and less technology users:

People love to purchase new generation smart phones but tend to avoid purchasing and making payments through mobile phones.

Conclusion:

In a developing economy like India, there is a greater scope of growth of mobile commerce industry. This is due to the rising income of the people of developing country, which raises their standard of living and induces them to buy new gadgets like smart phones and use internet connection. But some factors puts obstacles in its high growth as people belong to poor and lower income class which could not fulfil their basic necessities of life. Moreover, those who wish to use m-commerce do not have confidence in the system due to presence of hackers and fraudulent people who hack the bank accounts of m-commerce users and transfer the money in their own pockets fraudulently. The confidence in m-commerce among the common people can be built by the stringent laws and regulations and punishments to hackers and those involving in cybercrimes.

References:

1. Chib Shiney, ‘M-Commerce’, Himalaya Publishing House
2. Batra and Juneja, ‘M-Commerce in India: Emerging Issues’, International Journal of Advanced Research in IT and Engineering, Feb 2013 , ISSN: 2278-6244, Vol 2.(2),
3. Parveen, Habib and Sarwar, ‘Mobile Commerce- New Way to Business’, International Journal of Research and Development- A Management Review,2012 ISSN 2319-5479, Vol-1(1)
4. Chauhan and Dalal, ‘Future Prospects of M-Commerce in Indian context: A Review’ International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology, ISSN:2278-0181
5. Srinivas D, ‘The impact of Mobile Commerce in India’ International Journal of Marketing Management, 2016, ISSN 2454-5007, Vol.2, (1)
6. Jahanshahi, Mirzaie, and Asadollahi, ‘Mobile Commerce Beyond Electronic Commerce’, Asian Journal of Business and Management Sciences, ISSN: 2047-2528, Vol.1,(2),119-129
7. Gupta and Vyas, ‘Benefits and Drawbacks of M-Commerce in India: A Review’, International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer and Communication Engineering, April 2014 ISSN (Online) 2278-1021, Vol.3(4)
8. Naware Archana.M, ‘M-Commerce in India’, International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer and Communication Engineering, April 2016, ISSN (Online): 2278-1021,Vol 5, (4).
9. Agarwal and Bhatawal, ‘M-Commerce in India: Promise and Problems’, International Journal of Research in Computer and Communication Technology April 2015, ISSN(Online) 2278-5841, Vol.4(4)
10. Gupta, Chandhok and Gupta, ‘Hardship of M-Commerce in India: Problems, Issues and Challenges, IOSR Journal of Business and Management, Jan 2016, e-ISSN: 2278-487X, Vol. 18,(1)
11. Kaur, ‘Transformation from E-Commerce to M-Commerce in India’, Sai Om Journal of Commerce & Management, Dec 2015 ISSN (online) 2347-7563, Vol.2 (15)
12. Latha, ‘M-commerce in India: Problems, Issues and Challenges’ International Journal of Commerce and Management Research, Jan 2017, ISSN: 2455-1627, Vol 3(1)