retail and e-commerce

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Retail and E-commerce


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Functional Skills check

Student task accompanies this slide Printable activity

This lesson will cover:

ICT in retail.

EPOS and EFTPOS.

Loyalty cards.

Shopping online (e-commerce).


How is ICT used in the shopping that you do?

ICT and retail

In recent years, ICT has totally changed the way we shop.


The barcode contains data about the type of product and the manufacturer. It does not contain any information about price.

Barcodes

Almost every product you buy will have a barcode on it somewhere.

When the barcode is scanned, the price is retrieved from a database stored on the shop’s computer system and sent to the till – the Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS).

Why is the price stored in a database?


EPOS

As well as containing price information for products, an EPOS system can give a shop lots of information, including:

when the shop’s busiest times are

which cashiers work quickest

how much the average customer spends in a transaction

which goods are most popular

whether the tills agree with the actual money taken

what stock needs to be reordered.

How is this information useful to a shop?


EPOS and controlling stock


EFTPOS


Benefits of EFTPOS


The customer fills out a form giving their details to the shop in order to receive the card, which only contains their membership number.

Loyalty cards

How do loyalty cards benefit the shop?

Many supermarkets and other large shops have loyalty card schemes.

Every time the customer buys something from the shop, their loyalty card is swiped. The customer is rewarded with points, gifts or vouchers, depending on the scheme.


E-commerce

In April 2010, a study found that 51% of British adults regularly shop online.

Many shops have created e-commerce websites displaying details of their products and allowing customers to buy online.

This has enabled people to buy all sorts of things like groceries, books, music, electrical goods and even holidays using the Internet.

What do you think the most visited e-commerce websites in the UK are?


Advantages and disadvantages


Going, going, gone

As well as businesses using the Internet to sell to customers, individuals are able to use it to sell to each other. This is often done through an auction site such as eBay.

People who want to buy enter bids up to the highest price they are prepared to pay. The person with the highest bid when the auction closes wins and must pay for the goods, often using a third-party payment processor like PayPal.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of online auction sites?


E-commerce and security

E-commerce involves the transfer of money electronically, and many people are concerned about the risk of fraud. Reputable websites will have certain safety features.

A secure site will have a padlock icon somewhere in the browser window. A website using encryption will have a URL that begins https instead of the usual http.


Online marketing

Companies can use information gathered online to provide targeted and personalized advertisements.

Different targeting techniques are employed to make sure that the advertisements shown on a user’s screen when they are online will be of interest to that particular user.

Shops may also use data collected from loyalty cards to send targeted advertising.


The death of the high street?

There are some who fear that the rise in e-commerce will lead to the death of the British high street as more and more people choose to buy online rather than in-store.

In November 2009, Borders UK went into administration and was forced to close all 45 of its bookshops, costing 1,100 people their jobs.

The administration was blamed partly on ‘continuing pressure on the retailer from increased Internet competition.’

Discuss the effect of e-commerce on the high street.


Summary

retail and e-commerce

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