| A | B |
|---|
| Intermediaries | Companies that assist consumers by giving them additional cost or product information, understanding local markets, carrying a broader product line, or carrying multiple product categories. |
| Instantaneous Response | "Right this instant;" the immediate response to buyer inquiry made possible through the interactive nature of the internet. |
| Just-in-Time Inventory | Products are ordered and then manufactured on an as-needed basis to reduce warehousing costs. |
| Manual Inventory Controls | The process of counting and collecting information on current inventory manually. |
| Merchant Account Provider | The financial institution that sets up a merchant account for a company. |
| Order Fulfillment | Activities including selecting the merchandise, checking to make sure the order has been filled correctly, packing, shipping, and billing for the merchandise. |
| Payment Gateways | A company that serves as an intermediary for businesses to provide online payment options to customers. |
| Profitability | The conditions which determine a company's ability to make a profit after their expenses are deducted from their income from sales. |
| Productivity | The amount of output for each hour of work. |
| Real-Time Marketing | A term that refers to immediate processing of an online purchase. |
| Re-intermediation | The process of adding of a level of the distribution system. |
| Response Time | The amount of time it takes a seller to respond to a customer's inquiry for purchase or service. |
| Security Protocols | Sets of rules and standards that allow computers to exchange information such that the information is not visible to those who are not allowed to view it. |
| Shopping Carts | A common feature of an electronic commerce site that keeps track of the items a customer has selected to purchase. |
| Teleconferencing | The use of sophisticated phone systems to conduct meetings with multiple persons at remote locations. |
| Video-conferencing | The ability to have face-to-face interaction with business counterparts, clients, customers, etc, at remote locations via the internet and computer video capture devices. |
