Review on Local E-Commerce Site - Flowers.com.my

Flowers.com.my is a local site where you can purchase wonderful flowers and gifts for any occasions and send them to your loved ones or even to your family and so on. This website is a fully owned subsidy of CARI Internet Sdn Bhd and began active operations in the year 1999.

To provide a convenient way for people to purchase flowers and gifts, the founder decided to start as an online florist instead of having a shop first. Since inception, flowers.com.my has experienced tremendous growth in the process, they have since successfully established a network of over 60 florists throughout Malaysia with the trustworthy relationship to ensure quality of their suppliers and delivery channels. Now, they have their first retail shop in Kelana Jaya and more to come.

With no doubt, the products available in this site are bouquets, flowers arrangements, hampers, gift baskets and many other specialties utilizing imported flowers to produce truly unique gifts. Flowers.com.my helps customers to convey their messages and thoughts to their loved ones, friends & associates to commemorate momentous occasions such as new-born, birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, graduations and business openings and even for condolences.

This website has a simple layout and yet warmth design. It has a good navigation which will bring customers to the respective pages when they click on the link or items they wish to get accessed. There is no search engine in this site but it provides a list of events with breakdowns for customers to select types of flowers and gifts they wish to order for different types of events.

Once they click on the particular event, images of products will be displayed in the page with the names and prices. If they wish to order certain product, they can click on the image or product name for descriptions and add it into the shopping cart.

Products can be ordered from this site and shipments will be done with different shipment charges according to the locations of recipients. Payments can be made using Mastercard and Visa credit card payments through flowers.com.my's partner payment gateway provider "Commerce Payment Sdn Bhd". Maybank, Mobile Money and Paypal are the alternatives for customers to make their payments.

It is a secure site to make orders because customers' information is not visible for third parties and it is highly protected. Before the products are being charged and sent, customers need to log in with their respective accounts and passwords in this site for verification of information. Once this is done, orders will be confirmed and shipments will be done in a few days time.

But, there are some disadvantages. I found out that the choices of products are not in great variety and thus customers may not be able to choose products which they really want. Futhermore, they can only look at the description but not the real image of the flowers or gifts. As compared to a brick-and mortal florist, customers can check whether the flowers are fresh, how do they smell, what colors they like, types of wrapping they prefer and so on.

Seasonal conditions may affect the supply of certain kind of flowers and specific colors may not always be available. But arrangements will be made by this online florist and will always fulfill customers' needs.

Anyway, it is a recommended site for those who wish to send their wishes and gifts to someone far from them with the help of this site. I'm sure that the one who receives these from their loved ones or someone else will feel extremely surprised and touched.

To visit this site, go to www.flowers.com.my

Corporate Blogging: A new marketing communication tool for companies.

A corporate weblog is published and used by an organization to reach its organizational goals। Corporate blog has become a new marketing communication tool for companies. Corporate blog has divided into three types and there are internal blogs, external blogs, and CEO blogs. Thus, all current browseers which include Firefox, Opera, Safari and Internet Explorer 7 enable readers to read the recent posts easily without truly visit the blog through supporter of RSS technology.

One of the successful blogs is Amazon Web Services Blog by Amazon।com that about Amazon web services, products, tools and developer information। It helps to improve the communication and its customer services, attract more people to consume and discuss new products online।

A corporate blog can be:

• A tool that helps the organization achieve a business goal-Redeploying scare resource just to have a blog makes no sense if there is no business case for one।
• A useful extension of the company image in the marketplace। It is however no substitute for bad products or lack of commitment to customers.
• An opportunity to open a two-way channel between employees and customers।

Corporate blogs are not only interesting and useful, they are also helping the companies hat author them develop a totally new relationship with their customers। In some cases, the blogs have helped the company move the needle in reputation, cute and thus purchase consideration.

References:

http://specgirlz.blogspot.com/2009/02/corporate-blogging-new-marketing.html
http://www.internetviz-newsletters.com/bulldog/e_article000404957.cfm
http://ecommercesite.wordpress.com/2008/07/04/corporate-blogging-a-new-marketing-tool-for-companies/
http://38blog123.blogspot.com/2008/07/corporate-blogging-new-marketing.html
http://ecomspace.blogspot.com/2008/06/corporate-blogging-new-marketing.html

E-Government in Malaysia: Its Implimentation So Far and Citizen's Adoption Strategies

E-Government in Malaysia

Electronic government, generally known as ‘E-government’ is the use of information and communication technologies in public administration combined with organizational change and new skills to improve public services and democratic processes and to strengthen support to public policies. E-government is a way for public administration to become more open and transparent, and to reinforce democratic participation: more service-oriented, providing personalized and inclusive services to each citizen.

Various countries, including Malaysia, are implementing E-government. The status of e-government implementation in Malaysia is widely discussed as to the potential of e-government implementation towards the public and businesses. The implementation of e-government started since the initiation of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) by the Malaysia government in 1996.

The E-government initiative in Malaysia was launched to lead the country into the Information Age. It use information technology and e-commerce to provide citizens and organizations with more convenient access to government information and services and to provide delivery of public services to citizens, business partners, and those working in the public sector. E-government services focus on four main customers which are citizens, the business community, government employees and agencies. In E-government system, individuals are able to initiate a request for a particular government service and then receive that government service through the Internet or some computerized mechanism. It seeks to improve the convenience, accessibility and quality of interactions with citizens and businesses; simultaneously, it will improve information flows and processes within government to improve the speed and quality of policy development, coordination and enforcement. This enabled the government to be more responsive to the needs of its citizens.

The myGovernment Portal (www.gov.my) acts as the one-stop source of Malaysian government information and services for the citizens.

E-government is one of the seven flagship applications introduced in MSC. Under the e-government flagship, seven main projects were identified to be the core of the e-government applications.

The e-government projects are:
1. Project Monitoring System (PMS)
2. Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)
3. Generic Office Environment (GOE)
4. Electronic Procurement (EP)
5. Electronic Services (E-Services)
6. Electronic Labor Exchange (ELX)
7. E-Syariah

The recent survey about e-government adoption in Malaysia, which was done by market information group TNS, indicated that the e-government use is growing but at a slow pace. As shown in the study, about 15% of Malaysians have used the internet to access online government services in year 2003 compared to 12% in year 2002. In the survey, Malaysia’s ranking is 25th out of 32 countries in terms of e-government usage growth. The Malaysians are also concerned about the security of doing transactions over the Internet and this resulted in low usage of e-government services. As far as the age group is concerned, the younger Malaysians who are under 34 are the primary users of e-government services. Also noted in the survey, households with high incomes and higher levels of education actively use the e-government services.

The implementation of e-government services will bring benefits to the public, businesses and the government itself. As for the public, saving time and money are the primary reasons to use the e-government implementation, the governments should market their offers, improve citizen’s awareness of the benefits and increase take-up of online services.

Ways to encourage more citizens to use the e-government applications:

• Provide websites with multiple language versions.
• Increase awareness through TV and radio advertisements, and organizing workshops at shopping malls.
• Provide consultation services on how to use those services.
• simplify procedures needed to access to the e-government services
  

Malaysian e-government successful applications:

• Government’s drive for e-government services
• Electronic Labour Exchange (www.elx.gov.my) has matched 75,000 potential employees with employers since 2005.
• SMS alert on e-government services
• Online renewal of driving licenses
• Electronic filing of income tax forms
• Voter information
• Employment opportunities

However, there are some problems faced in e-government implementation, such as technological barrier, legislative and regulatory barriers, language barrier, budgetary framework, online behavior, lack of public awareness, digital divide impedes the benefits of E-government, and so on. So, Malaysia is keep on improving the core government applications and integrating more services across agencies in order to solve the issues or problem faced by E-government and provide a better services to the citizens in future.

Citizen's Adoption Strategies

E-Services form an emerging field, which is rapidly gaining attention and importance. Citizens expect and demand governmental services with a high degree of quality, quantity, and availability in a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week, and year-round fashion. Governments all over the world are developing information systems and electronic services that have the capacity to meet these emerging service needs and demands of citizens and other clients. Success in delivering electronic services depends upon the capability and self-confidence of citizens in performing e-transactions, as well as their trust and confidence in the protection of their personal data within an open and accountable government. The ease of use, compatibility, and trustworthiness are significant predictors of citizens’ intention to use e-Services and that perceived reactive advantage, perceived image, perceived compatibility, perceived usefulness, and relative advantage are significant elements of e-Government adoption.

The government should be able to propose an effective strategy to encourage citizen’s adoption of e-government by focusing on these 4 areas:

1. Customer satisfaction
E-Government adoption requires that citizens show higher levels of satisfaction with the online service provided by the government. A higher level of customer satisfaction will increase the rate of e-Government adoption.

2. Service Quality
Online service quality for e-Government could be measured in terms of quality of content provided on the website, the speed of the response to the citizens concerns with problem solving approach, and the availability of names. Other important measurement factors are telephone and fax numbers of personnel with whom citizens might need to get in touch, and the integration of an offline channel with online channel so that citizens could interact with government departments through other means if necessary. Higher quality of service will lead to higher levels of customer satisfaction and thus can increase the use of e-government services.

3. Website Design
Personalization of websites, customization of product offerings, and self-care are the three key features that could be used not only to build relationship with the visitors, but also to enhance their experience. These features give visitors a sense of control and participation and could potentially enhance their adoption

4. User Characteristic
User characteristics such as perceived risk, perceived control, and internet experience can have a direct impact on internet adoption. Experience influences a citizen’s trust of e-Government. Users with prior experience, especially if satisfied, would be more likely to return to use e-Government services. Perceived risk leads to security and privacy issues that could discourage the use of online services. It is important to ensure that citizens can transact online securely and their personal information will be kept confidential to increase the level of trust and the e-government adoption rate.

References:

http://e-comm4entrepreneur.blogspot.com/2008/07/e-government-in-malaysia-its.html

http://evolutionboyz.blogspot.com/2008/07/e-government-in-malaysia-its.html

http://milkmom.blogspot.com/2008/07/e-government-in-malaysia-its.html

http://youthdew.blogspot.com/2008/06/e-government-in-malaysia-its.html

http://e-worldbiz.blogspot.com/

Mobile Payment Systems in Malaysia: Its potentials and consumers' adoption strategies

MOBILE WALLET system is an innovative and revolutionary breakthrough mobile commerce solution that offers the conveniences of cash-less and card-less shopping, as well as making remote payments via any mobile phone, where financial and merchandising transactions are done at the touch of the fingertips.

It is suitable for the masses as it is a mobility redemption system that not only helps improve efficiency and convenience; it also enhances productivity and faster turn around time. Basically anyone can use MOBILE WALLET as if it is a cash or debit card.

Users can use their MOBILE WALLET (activated as an account) immediately after they have registered their SIM-card number and activated it. Prior to that they would also need to top up their MOBILE WALLET with a minimum of RM10 which will then be converted into *MW10 (MOBILE WALLET e-money currency) . RM1 = MW1

The differences between of MOBILE WALLET, debit and credit card

MOBILE WALLET Debit Card Credit Card Instant top-up, instant spending. Spending directly deducted from your account. Spend first, settle payment later. Instant checking balance through mobile phone. Need to make sure account has enough money before spending. Keep spending without worrying account balancing. Enjoy shopping and manage to control spending budget. Always worrying account balancing can’t cover shopping expenses. Overspending and increase debt.

"Pay bills through your very own mobile phone, via SMS." That is MOBILE WALLET’s concept. An *instruction guide booklet (obtainable through all MOBILE WALLET Kiosks and MOBILE WALLET Agents) will provide the comprehensive SMS-codes for making payments to various products and services.

Alternately, one can use MOBILE WALLET’s very own mWiz program downloadable through the website at www.mobilewallet2u.com and straightaway make payments with the most intuitive and easy to use program. *Only in the Klang Valley.

Minimum top up for MOBILE WALLET is RM10 which will then be converted into *MW10 (MOBILE WALLET e-money currency), with a maximum top up limit of *MW200. A nominal charge of * MW0.50for each and every successful transaction. Users can top up at Kiosk, Maybank, Ambank and through e-pay.

To cash out existing/balance MW money:

a) Sending an SMS command(please refer to the guidebook) and activate the cash-out option, Or

b) Cash out by logging into one's MW-Account online and initiate cash-out payment via direct bank-in into his or her account of choice. There will be a 7-days grace period for the processing of payment and a nominal fee of 2% will be charged from one's MW-Account upon successful transaction.

For Mobile Wallet users:

1) To preview or get your latest transaction record, you can log on to the website at www.mobilewallet2u.com and login with your registered MOBILE WALLET account (your mobile phone number), with your provided security code and PIN number.
2) You just need to type in MW OWNPIN send to MW Gateways if you have forgotten your security number or pin code. You will get your security number and PIN code in less than a minute.
3) If you lost your mobile phone, you may call the Customer Care Line at 603-9205 5550 / 603-9205 5551. They will assist you to solve this problem.

What is MW Gateway?

The MW Gateways are numbers that call corresponds to user mobile phone Telco numbers （namely 012, 016, 019） . The MW Gateways are: 6012.676.9093 / 6016.331.9093 / 6019.278.3039

Mobile Wallet users are able to make payments wirelessly for purchase(s) or service(s) immediately anywhere at anytime from anyone to anyone. With no doubt, it is very convenient and easy to use. For further information, please visit http://www.mobilewallet2u.com/lang/en/index.html.

Electronic Currency

Electronic currency refers to money or scrip which is exchanged through electronically. Electronic currency involves in use of computer networks, the internet and digital stored value systems. The examples of electronic currency are Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). Electronic funds transfer (EFT) refers to the computer-based systems used to perform financial transactions electronically.

A private currency may use gold to provide extra security, such as digital gold currency. An e-currency system may be fully backed by gold (like e-gold and c-gold), non-gold backed, or both gold and non-gold backed (like e-bullion and Liberty Reserve). Also, some private organizations, such as the US military use private currencies such as Eagle Cash. Many systems will sell their electronic currency directly to the end user, such as Paypal and WebMoney, but other systems, such as e-gold, sell only through third party digital currency exchangers. In the case of Octopus Card in Hong Kong, deposits work similarly to banks'. After Octopus Card Limited receives money for deposit from users, the money is deposited into banks, which is similar to debit-card-issuing banks redepositing money at central banks.

Electronic currency means the money you use over the internet. Electronic currency allows its holder to buy the goods and the services that the vastness of the internet offers. Electronic currency trading, therefore, means buying and selling of this internet money. Just like in normal everyday monetary currencies, electronic currencies are also varied. Each one of them is backed by an underlying monetary currency or in some cases, even valuable or precious metals. One profits by trading on these electronic currencies. It’s much more complicated than that of course but I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.

Benefits of Electronic currency:

1.) Electronic currency trading allows you to do business and earn with only a few dollars of investment. Electronic currency trading does not demand much and it is really up to you if you want to increase your investment or not. With electronic currency trading you are given many opportunities to profit without spending too much on investment.

2.) Electronic currency trading has a low transaction cost. Unlike other businesses that eat up your profit with exorbitant fees, electronic currency trading allows you to do business with minimal fees giving you more profit and more money for you.

3.) Electronic currency trading is versatility and convenience to the persons involved. You can work with any electronic currency trading market that best suits your needs for any time of day. The electronic currency trading business does not sleep so night or day, the world is merely at your fingertips.

Disadvantages of Electronic currency:

1.) Fraud over electronic currency trading has been a pressing issue in recent years. Hacking into bank accounts and illegal retrieval of banking records has led to a widespread invasion of privacy and has promoted identity theft.

2.)There is also a pressing issue regarding the technology involved in electronic currency trading. Power failures, loss of records and undependable software often cause a major setback in promoting technology.