Terminology of ecommerce

Auction- a competitive process in which a seller solicits consecutive bids from buyers or a buyer solicits bids from sellers

Avatars- animated computer characters that exhibit human-like movements and behaviors

Back end- the activities that support online order fulfillment, inventory management, purchasing from suppliers, payment processing, packaging, and delivery

Bartering Exchange- an intermediary that links parties in a barter

Blog- a personal Web site that is open to the public to read and to interact with; dedicated to specific topics or issues

Buy-side e-marketplace- a corporate-based acquisition site that uses reverse auctions, negotiations, group purchasing, or any other e-procurement method

Desktop search- search tools that search the contents of a user's or organization's computer files, rather than searching the internet

Digital Products- goods that can be transformed to digital format and delivered over the Internet

Dynamic Pricing- prices that change based on supply and demand relationships at any given time

E-Bartering- bartering conducted online, usually in a batering exchange

E-distributor- a e-commerce intermediary that connects manufacturers with business buyersby aggregating the catelogs of many manufacturers in one place- the intermediary's web site

E-auctions- auctions conducted online

e-catalogs- the presentation of product information in an electronic form, the backbone of most e-selling sites

Electronic shopping cart- an order-processing technology that allows customers to accumulate items they wish to buy while they continue to shop

e-mall- an online shopping center where many online stores are located

Folksonomy- the practice and method of collaboratively creating, classifying, and managing tags to annotate and categorize content

Enterprise Search- the practice of identifying and enabling specific content across the enterprise to be indexed, searched, and displayed t authorized users

Forward Auctionan auction in which a seller entertains bids from buyers

front End- the portion of a e-sellers business processes through which customers interact including the sellers portal electronic catalogs, a shopping cart, a search engine, and a payment gateway

Infomediary- a electronic intermediary that provides and or controls information flow in cyberspace, often aggregating information and selling it to others

Microblogging- a form of blogging that allows users to write messages (usually upto 140 characters) and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group that can be choosen by the user. These messages can be submittes by a variety of means, ncluding text messaging, instant messaging, e-mail, MP3, or just on the web

name your own price model- auction model in which a would-be buyer specifies the prices (and other terms) he or she is willing to pay to any willing and able seller

reverse auction- auction in which the buyer places an item for bid (tender) on a request for quote (RFQ) system, potential suppliers bid on the job, with the price reducing sequentially, and the lowest bid wins; primarily a B2B or G2B mechanism

Sell-side e marketplace- a web-based marketplace in which one company sells to many business buyers from e-catalogs or auctions, frequently over an extranet

search engine- a computer program that can access databases of Internet resources, search for specific information or key words, and reports the results

Social bookmarking- Web service for sharing Internet bookmarks.

tags- nonhierarchcal keyword or term assigned to a piece of information

tweet- text based posts up to 140 characters in length posted to Twitter

vlog-a blog with video content

voice portal- a web site with a audio interface that can be accessed through a telephone call

web portal- a single point of access, through a Web browser, to critical business information located inside and outside (via Internet) an organization

webstore- a single company's Web site where products or services are sold and usually has a online shopping cart associated with it

wiki- a blog that allows everyone to participate as a peer; anyone may add, delete, or change content