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Some analysts predict that B2B e-Business transactions will become 10 times more frequent than Business-to-Consumer(B2C)transactions．Nevertheless，in the public's mind，the image most closely associated with e-Business is B2C:a consumer using the Internet to buy a product or service．Of course，not every consumer visits an e-Business Web site with the expressed purpose of buying something．Figure 1 shows some of the questions a consumer might want to have answered by visiting a company's Web site．

From a consumer's point of view，two principal activities characterize e-Business: online shopping and online purchasing．First，you can use the Internet to shop for products and services．That is，you can research a product，compare prices，and evaluate other factors such as return policies，security and privacy safeguards，and delivery options．Second，you can purchase a product from a Web site．The purchasing activity involves several steps:selecting the product，providing payment information such as a credit card number，providing a real-world address so that the credit card can be authorized and the product can be delivered，and providing an email address so that the company supplying the product can immediately confirm your order．

The primary goal of a retail Web site is to attract and keep customers so that they can conduct transactions 24 hours a day from anywhere in the world．To accomplish this foal，businesses need to develop a one-to-one relationship with each consumer，decrease operating costs，and reach narrow market segments that could be scattered all over the world．

Some of the first products sold online were books，music，software，and computers．A consumer could confidently buy any of these products without having to physically examine them．As consumers become more and more accustomed to purchasing pro-ducts online，other product categories will become popular．Already，the success of e-Bay and other auction sites indicates that consumers are willing to make online purchases of collectible items，art，and other products that traditionally they would have physically examined before buying．For several years，conventional wisdom dictated that bigticket items such as cars and houses would not sell online，yet consumers are flocking to Web sites such as cars.com and move.com．In tight housing markets，such as San Francisco，many middle-and high-end homes are sold sight-unseen，based solely on their Web listing．E-Business analysts will be tracking the long-term financial success of Web sites that sell products traditionally associated with direct，person-to-person sales and physical inspection．Perhaps the growing number of consumers who maintain a busy lifestyle will demand Web businesses that cater to their preferences for speed and convenience．

Ultimately，a B2C e-Business site must provide the customer with an easy shopping experience．At the same time，the customer needs to feel that shopping online provides an equal or greater benefit than shopping in a brick and mortar store．Figure 2 compares the online shopping experience with the traditional shopping experience for a consumer who wants to purchase vases．Note that activities shown with“★”are easy to accomplish，while activities shown with“△”are potential barriers to shopping success．E-Business Web site developers are continually working to remove or reduce these barriers．

Questions for Further Discussion

3．How can we deal with the potential barriers to online shopping?Do you have any good suggestions?