The effect of ICT on the way we bank and shop

The effect of ICT on the way we bank and shop

Online banking (or Internet banking) allows customers to conduct financial transactions on a secure website operated by their retail or virtual bank, credit union or building society.

-Wikipedia

Online shopping is the process whereby consumers directly buy goods or services from a seller in real-time, without an intermediary service, over the Internet. If an intermediary service is present the process is called electronic commerce.

-Wikipedia

Online Banking

Online banking helps the majority of people now as it means they can check their bank accounts, make transaction and pay bills wherever they are and without leaving the house to travel to the nearest bank. ICT has made many people's lives easier by providing this 'online bank' from the comfort of their own home. It is a very benefitial use of ICT.

Online banking is convenient - 

-It allows you to perform transactions, pay bills and check balances 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

The bank virtually never closes because it is as accessible as your PC or laptop computer.

-No matter where you are in the country or in the world, you can visit your online bank and handle money matters.

-You can even schedule to pay several payees ahead of time rather than keeping up with paper bills or trying to remember when to visit a payee's web site to make an online payment. Your bank will automatically send the payments on your behalf in the amounts and on the dates you specify.

- Also it is fast, efficient and effective.

-Through the internet, transactions are typically performed and executed at a faster rate than ATM's.

Online banking does have its disadvantages-

-The main issue for most people is that of trust. They may wonder if their transaction went through successfully or if they clicked on the correct button.

-Online banking sites can also take a while to start up and can be difficult to learn at first. 

-It may take a while to learn how to use your banking site. Most if not all banks will offer an online banking tutorial. Some even offer live customer support for online banking via chat, email, or phone.

-Sometimes fraud can happen due to online banking, and this worries many people and banks.

-There are some fraud or proxy websites, which can hack information (user name and password) entered by a person for some transaction, and later misuse it. In such cases, people lose their money without knowing and by the time, they get the bill, huge loses may have been incurred.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20100929/tuk-police-question-19-over-online-banki-dba1618.html

Up to £6 million has been taken from online accounts in just three months by a gang of computer hackers.

Online Shopping

Online shopping is a very popular online activity allowing people to order clothes, films, food, games and practically anything you can think of online. The main reason this is so popular as it means it can all be done by the comfort of your home. e.g a mum could do a whole weeks food shopping online via a site such as ocado  which links with waitrose, and this can be delivered the next day, which is alot easier than spending a couple of hours in a supermarket. With regards to clothing many people find it useful as you can easily find your size, colour and favourite item of clothing, that you might see online and have never seen in your local shop before. There are online shops such as 'Asos' which is only available online, which includes designer clothing, clothes from well known shops and their own clothes too with a wide range of prices so it appeals to everyone. ICT has made shopping in general for everyone individual alot easier as it allows you to browse the majority of shops online without the hassle of going to a busy shop. Also by shopping online it also means you can usually get the best deals and sales as a lot of the items online often become discounted and on most sites there are usually on line sales of up to 70% off on clothes. Many food shopping websites also show the best deals on a certain product which is a lot easier as you can't search round the whole supermarket looking for the best deal and online it means the computer does it for you.

Ebay- an online online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide.It  is another form of online shopping and selling which is done through the method of bidding for items. It allows you to sell items online, which you put on at a certain price and then people can bid above this price, it also allows you to bid for other items, but obviously you have no gurante you are going to get this item until the bidding has finished. It is an easy fast and free site to use, the only costs are when you are buying things and when you are selling, as you have to pay a small price of about 50p in order for your item, a description and picture to be posted. This website is very popular worldwide as it allows them to almost go to a 'boot sale' or 'auction' but online from the comfort of them home. It benefits people and the society and it allows them to put items that they no longer need and are not sure how to get rid of them online and sell them for the price they want. The disadvantage is you can't always guarante you are going to sell the item and then in the end you can waste at least £5 putting items on that don't sell and get no interest. It is best to look through the site and see what items are popular and the fast selling items/the ones in demand.

Another type of popular site is amazon which is an American-based multinational electronic commerce company and is America's largest online retailer. Amazon is a site which sells everything you could need, everytype of electrical item to every type beauty item, both new and used, and at a range of prices. It is another site where it allows you to both sell and buy and it differs from ebay as you cannot bid for items, the price you see is the price you pay. This is a site which has become extremely popular as it allows students and adults to purchase old and new books and cheaper prices, which is great for students studying as they will easily find the book they need and at a cheap price. Amazon buy alot of items of other businesses/companies and share the profits so this benefits both amazon and the company as they are both earning a profit and the comany is becoming known as Amazon is such a well known site.

 This image shows a list of books on amazon, this a search for AS books, and a list of 13,000 books covering all lessons/subjects. e.g in this list there are books for biology, maths and pyscology. For the pyscology book there is a list of 17 new from £10.28 and 8 old from £12.68. So as you can see the site offers you a wide range of selection on books aswell as price, so you are guaranteed to find the book you are looking for.

There are also now uses of ICT in stores to make the shopping easier, such as tills and chip and pin machines, these make life easier for both the cashier and the customer. Chip and Pin machines mean that a customer can easily pay by card, so doesn't always have to have cash or a check book on them as the money is taken straight from their acount. There are also the self checkout services which allow people to check and and pay themselves without going to a cashier, as they scan the items themselves, and then pay by cash or card, the whole method is computerized. This is a useful system to both the supermarket and customers as it means less employees would be needed if the system is all computerized and it is a quicker and more efficient way. The issues with this service are you cannot purchase alcohol or cigarettes without checking with a member of staff where they will scan their card in order to give the machiene permission to accept you, this can often take time as you need to be able to find a member of staff to do this for you.

Computer systems are used in a variety of ways in the modern, large supermarket,from stock control to maintaining temperatures in fridges and freezers.

The bar codes on products are read by the EPOS tills at the checkouts. This isachieved by using a scanner, which sends out infra-red laserbeams via a set of mirrors, enabling the bar code to be read at most angles.

The latest in store development has been the arrival of smart card readers at the EPOS. A debit card with a smart chip is placed in the reader and the customer then enters their PIN to authorise the money being taken out.In terms of stock control There are, in fact, six branch computers linked to the EPOS terminals at the checkouts. They all record information about items sold and provide backup for each other. If only one computer was used and it broke down, the supermarket could not function. These branch computers are linked via the satellite links to a large main compute at the supermarket's head office elsewhere in the country. 

Located at each checkout is an epos till:

Epos- Electronic point of sale. They are found in almost all major retail stores, businesses, restaurants etc, they are popular because they give businesses a fast and convenient way of transacting a sale, while at the same time recording vital business information. They handle the calculations involved in sales and issue receipts these have been the main function of normal tills. EPoS systems, do this and a lot more.

There are many types of epos hardware the main ones including:

Barcode Scanners , Cash Draws, Chip and Pin, Customer Displays, Keyboards, Mobile PDA's (for mobile EPoS integration), Printers, Tablets, Weighing Scales

Advantages of Online Shopping- 

-Online shopping is accessible round the clock. You can buy whatever you want even at 3 a.m. in the morning.

-You can choose from a wider variety of things available for you to shop which may not be available in your local stores.

-You also have the benefit to do all from the comfort of your own home.

-In addition, unlike local stores, you can avail discount coupons and get a thing at a lower rate when shopping online.

-Also, when you are buying gifts, online shopping is the perfect way to send your distant friends or relatives the gift you wanted to send.

-When it comes to payment, you can use anyone's credit card when shopping online.Websites are secure these days with powerful encryption procedures that keep your identity safe and secure.

-Overall it is simple, easy, and hassle free to do

Disadvantages of Online Shopping-

-Although online shopping is 24/7 available, you cannot feel or touch items rather can just see what is present on a webpage

-This also means that you can order a size and if it is the wrong size or doesn't suit you, you have the hassle of sending it back.

-The most common grumble people have with online stores is regarding warranties and some sort of guarantees, which they fail to offer in most cases

-It very normal that many online stores don't accept cash or checks, although some sites do, you still have to use the credit cards. When purchasing online, billing errors are the common things you may encounter whereas in local stores these errors are nearly impossible.

-Also sometimes your computer or the site may freeze and you can't work out if you have purchased the item or not until you check your bank

-Sometimes the orders are not always accurate and you don't get all the items you required wether it be food, clothes, games or books