E-Commerce Dissertation Topics
Strategy
One of the most important things in any business is the unique selling
proposition. This is no different in ecommerce. The platform alone (i.e. the
Internet) may sometimes contribute to the USP, such as supermarkets allowing
people to purchase goods online and provide delivery to their doors. But as the
number of online retailers increases this may erode the USP that
depends greatly on the platform. Possible e-commerce dissertation topics in
this area are:
- An analysis of e-commerce
strategies for traditional organisations (Migration)
- An analysis e-commerce
strategies for new organisations
- An analysis of e-commerce
strategies for traditional organisations moving on to the Internet
(Migration)
- E-commerce strategies -
Accident or design?
- What are the components of a
good e-commerce strategy?
- An analysis of Internet
branding strategies
- How to obtain competitive
advantage using technology
- How to obtain competitive
advantage using service in e-commerce
- Internal business process and
organisational strategy for change management
- Business Process Reengineering
- Myth or medicine?
- An analysis of Internet
business value creation strategies
- Performance measurement of an
e-business strategy (Case study)
- E-business strategies for
knowledge management - An analysis and evaluation
- E-business strategies
formulation techniques - Proposal for a new technique
- An e-business strategy for a
educational institution (Case study/Project)
- An e-business strategy for an
SME (Case Study/Project)
- An e-business strategy for a
B2B business.
- An analysis of payment
processing models
Marketing/Advertising for e-businesses
Marketing or advertising for an e-business is a very important part of the
overall strategy for e-businesses. The development of Internet marketing
techniques such as paid advertisements for keyword searches, banner
advertisements and also the use of Web 2.0 applications that make use of social
networks for advertisements, have all changed the way marketing and advertising
operates. The amount of information available today has made it possible to
carefully target customers based on profiles, networks, etc. A good knowledge
of the mechanisms of the technology is required in order to take full advantage
of the opportunities available. Suggested topics for your e-commerce
dissertation include:
- The importance of search engine
rankings for e-commerce
- Search engine advertisement
strategy
- Marketing strategy on the
Internet
- E-commerce Marketing Mix -
Wholly online, or one foot in both worlds?
- Pay-per-click vs. Pay-per-impression
- A comparison
- An advertising strategy for an
e-business (case study)
- Critical evaluation of an
e-commerce company's advertising strategy (case study)
- Analytical Issues and empirical
evidence of marketing strategies in e-commerce
- Measuring e-commerce
advertising success (case study)
- Measuring e-commerce
advertising success (proposal of a new technique/algorithm)
- Measuring customer retention
for e-commerce portals
- Analysis of customer behaviour
as an input for marketing strategy
- What draws repeat customers to
an online retailer?
- Internet marketing for
traditional retailers
- Internet marketing for new
(born on the Internet) retailers
- Internet marketing - new
strategy proposal
Security and Trust
Security and trust are extremely important issues in e-commerce. One of the
major perceived threats of e-commerce is the issue of security. Security and
trust threats come from two areas in e-commerce - threat from third party
attacks on legitimate transactions between a retailer and the customer and
threat from fraudulent retailers to customers.
Third party attacks
The threat of third party attacks is
an ever-present one. Hackers may try to gain access to sensitive information
stored in the web servers, such as credit card information, bank account
details and even personal details for identity theft. Retailers have a legal
responsibility to keep any personal details they collect safe. Technology such
as SSL, firewalls, intrusion detection etc. are all used to secure the website
from unauthorised access. Third party attacks are also facilitated by lax
security from customers. Some e-commerce dissertation topics in this area are:
- Critical evaluation of current
technology enabling e-commerce security
- Analysis of previous attacks
and vulnerabilities that led to those attacks
- Security vulnerabilities and
possible attacks methods - firewalls
- Security vulnerabilities and
possible attack methods - SSL
- The effectiveness of current
intrusion detection technology
- Critical evaluation of security
policies of a website
- Critical evaluation of the
firewall policies of a website
- Perception of security among
the lay public
- Educating the public about
security
- Encryption - State of the Art.
- How effective is today's
encryption to prevent spying/snooping?
Trust
Trust is an important issue in e-commerce, because unlike real world
transactions, the retailer is not present in person during the transaction. It
is much easier for an entity to set up a website and an electronic payment
processing system than a real world storefront. It is also much more difficult
for customers to determine the authenticity of websites. This makes it very
difficult to trust that the retailers are who they claim to be. Some of the
topics you could research for your e-commerce dissertation in this area are:
- Digital certificate, encryption
and public key infrastructure weakness analysis
- Trust models in e-commerce
- Analysis of the effectiveness
of trust-building mechanisms
- Analysis of public perceptions
of trust
- Data privacy issues in
e-commerce
- Data Protection Act 2002 -
Implications for e-commerce
- Managing reputations online
- How important is trust in
e-commerce and how it can be built up?
- Trust in e-commerce - Myth or
Reality?
- The antivirus business
- The protection business - how
effective is today's antivirus software?
- Adware vs. spyware - where is
the line drawn?
Legislation
Legislation has also been enacted throughout the world to ensure that computer
networks remain safe from external threats and attackers are brought to
justice. In the UK, legislation such as the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and the
Police and Justice Act 2006 help prevent and punish acts of computer security
breach. Some e-commerce dissertation topics in this area are:
- The Computer Misuse Act 1990 -
Scope, definition, reach and effectiveness
- The Police and Justice Act 2006
- Scope, definition, reach and effectiveness
- Legislation protecting computer
security in the UK - Adequate or not fit for purpose?
- An examination of international
legislation in protecting computer security.
- How effective is legislation as
a deterrent to computer attacks?
Usability
Usability is important for online retailers because their 'shops' are not
physically manned. Customers have to browse the items for sale and make their
purchase by themselves. The websites themselves therefore have to be very
user-friendly; the layout and design should strive to achieve the balance
between simplicity and presentation of all information. Technology has been
employed to provide effective customer service, such as having 24/7 support over
the phone, live chat on the e-commerce website, etc. The new generation of
Internet applications, such as the semantic web, natural language search etc,,
collectively termed Web 3.0, holds great promise for progress in customer
service in e-commerce. Some of the e-commerce dissertation topics in the area
of usability are:
- Critical analysis of current
technology employed for e-commerce customer service
- Potential Web 3.0 applications
for customer service
- Developing a new Web 3.0
application for customer service
- Effectiveness of Principles of
usability of e-commerce websites
- XHTML/CSS - Helping usability?
- Do W3C standards help promote
usability?
- Analysis of any one major
e-commerce website (such as Amazon) from the usability point of view
- The monetary impact of non-user
friendly websites
- Quantifying usability for
e-commerce
- Evaluating usability for
e-commerce
- Usability survey for one or
more e-commerce website(s)
Mobile e-commerce
Mobile e-commerce is the next frontier in e-commerce. An increasingly networked
and mobile world means that the Internet is no longer shackled to the desktop
and a landline. It is now available in many mobile devices such as Blackberrys,
PDAs, etc. Savvy e-commerce retailers have been quick on the uptake, providing
content and delivery mechanisms more suited to the new platform. There are
various opportunities for mobile e-commerce, from profit-seeking through
customers' calls and texts to custom-designed applications for mobile
platforms. Some e-commerce dissertation topics for mobile e-commerce are:
- Wireless security for
e-commerce
- Exploring geographical
boundaries of mobile e-commerce
- Payment processing methods for
mobile e-commerce
- Custom e-commerce applications
for mobile e-commerce
- Analysis of mobile e-commerce
business models
- Usability of mobile e-commerce
applications
- Mobile client technology
problems and bottlenecks
- Mobile networks technology
problems and bottle necks
- User interface design for
mobile e-commerce
- Wireless networks capacity
problems - Issues for mobile e-commerce
- E-commerce application with
wireless to wired interface
- User identification for mobile
e-commerce
- Data security in mobile
e-commerce
- Revenue generation through
mobile e-commerce
E-commerce and the law
Governments around the world have been slow to react to technology, not to
mention e-commerce. Hence the online retailer can be thought to be making his
way to the wild, wild west of the legal world in terms of e-commerce. Laws are
generally made at the behest of lobby groups behind large profit-making
organisations, and customers are generally left in the cold. Some examples of
this are:
- The continued extension of the
Copyright Act in the US which benefits the Disney Corporation and was
enacted at their behest.
- Laws such as the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) which benefits the Recording Industry
Association of America.
Some e-commerce dissertation topics in these general areas
are:
- The geographical boundaries of
legislation affecting e-commerce
- The impact of the DMCA on
e-commerce
- The impact of the American
Copyright Act extensions on e-commerce
- The impact of the Berne
Convention on e-commerce
- A review of UK legislation
affecting e-commerce
- Borderless crimes - can a
computer crime be committed outside the jurisdiction of any country?
- Sealand - a digital utopia?
- Geographical boundaries - is a
hacker safe in Sealand?
- Legislation P2P networks -
killing a few legitimate businesses to save the majority of other
businesses?
- P2P networks and e-commerce
- Software patents - Repeatedly
making money off the golden egg?
- Pornography and e-commerce
Data mining is another area that has tremendous applications
for e-commerce. Because a huge amount of information is made available through
digital systems, and this information can be collated from various sources to
glean more information than the individual would expect, customer privacy
issues have come to the fore. Legislation such as the Data Protection Act 1998
and the Freedom of Information Act 2000 are aimed at protecting the interests
of the lay citizen. Technology such as RFID tagging has further enabled data
mining in an unprecedented scale. Some e-commerce dissertation topics in this
area are:
- The Data Protection 1998 -
Implications for e-commerce
- The Freedom of Information Act
2000 - Implications for e-commerce
- Data mining - Legal and Ethical
Issues
- Data mining technology - the
next frontier
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