Broadly speaking, the term "e-business" refers to using the Internet for doing business.   

Are you doing e-business?

Is your business doing e-business? Here's a checklist to find out. If you can say yes to any of these, then you are doing e-business.

• We communicate with customers, clients or suppliers via email.
• We send emails to other businesses to order products and services.
• We sell our products or services via our website.
• We use the Web to find information, such as prices, phone numbers, reviews of products.
• We use the Web for research, such as the latest industry trends.
• We use our website to provide information about our products and services.
• We use our website as a means of managing the information in our business.
• We use the Internet for online banking and paying our bills using BPAY.

No level of e-business is necessarily better than any other level. Some businesses don't need a website but deal all day with other businesses and customers online via email and an e-marketplace (see the Improving section for more detail). Other businesses have a website that helps them sell their products all around the world. It's up to each business to determine what level of e-business is right for them. The Planning section of the e-buisnessguide helps with this decision-making. 

The difference between e-business and e-commerce

The term e-commerce has a narrower meaning than e-business.  It refers to using the Internet to order and pay for products or services. So e-commerce is a sub-set of e-business.  

E-commerce happens when a consumer orders a product from a business and pays for it either when they receive the product or directly online at the time of ordering. It happens when a business pays another business via its website for supplies.  

E-commerce refers specifically to the paying for goods and services, whereas e-business covers the full range of business activities that can happen or be assisted via email or the Web.  

 e-businessguide Case Study - Bunbury Port Authority (32kb)

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