Hello, summary: International e-commerce refers to enterprises engaging in international trade activities through various means of e-commerce operations. By analyzing and comparing the entire process of international trade practice, we are convinced that the efficiency of e-commerce is unmatched by traditional international trade practice. But nothing can be perfect. Currently, there are still some obstacles in e-commerce that affect its promotion and use. However, the practices and rules applicable to e-commerce have attracted the attention of authoritative institutions around the world, and relevant regulations are being introduced one after another. The replacement of traditional international trade practices by international e-commerce cannot be changed.
International e-commerce refers to enterprises engaging in international trade activities through various means of e-commerce operations. That is to say, in the field of international trade, we put aside the traditional transaction methods and use simple, fast, low-cost modern information technology and communication means to conduct transactions, and realize the electronicization of the entire process from negotiation, contract signing, delivery to payment. To greatly improve transaction efficiency.
From the content point of view, international e-commerce can be divided into two categories. One is indirect trade of tangible products, which refers to the negotiation, ordering, and processing of tangible goods through electronic means, especially the international Internet. Activities related to commodity exchange such as invoicing and payment; the other type is direct trade of intangible products, which refers to the purchase and sale of consulting reports, computer software, CNC programs, etc. through electronic means, especially the Internet, etc., which can be transmitted through the network and The entire process of exchanging intangible goods that can be stored in some way.
E-commerce has greatly improved the efficiency of the traditional international trade practice process. The following explains the role of e-commerce in promoting traditional international trade practices based on the application process of international e-commerce in international trade transactions.
1. Pre-transaction preparation
The pre-transaction preparation process mainly refers to the preparatory activities between the buyer and seller before the signing of the transaction contract, that is, how the supply and demand parties can promote or obtain effective products. information process. In essence, the entire process is a product information release, query and matching process.
At this stage, the traditional approach is for the buyer to obtain information about the goods to be purchased, including suppliers, prices, etc., through advertising, trade fairs, expos and other media based on the goods they intend to purchase. Due to the particularity of transnational transactions, a lot of energy is required to investigate the political, economic, foreign trade, transportation and other situations of the relevant countries, the production, sales, prices of the relevant commodities in the international market, and the main import and export countries. The next step is to formulate an imported commodity management plan based on the preliminary research. The plan includes the domestic supply situation, past import status, etc. Buyers generally have to do everything possible to find relevant information about the goods they need in order to achieve the purpose of purchasing goods with reasonable trading conditions. The whole process is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and the relevant information available is limited, making it difficult to obtain the best supply and lowest price.
Sellers generally choose to introduce export products by sending catalogs, physical samples, picture instructions, advertising gifts, and participating in various trade fairs and expos based on their own strength. From the seller's point of view, even though they try every means to promote their products, they are still "looking for a needle in a haystack" and it is difficult to seize the opportunity that should be yours.
In today's e-commerce era, all this will change a lot. Buyers mainly obtain information through the Internet. Buyers can go online at any time to check relevant information about the goods they need. Currently, government departments in most countries in the world have set up government websites on the Internet to provide the latest economic trends and market information in various countries. There are also some sites dedicated to international trade, which can provide a large amount of international trade commodity information. Sellers mainly use the Internet and various trade networks to publish product advertisements, actively launch information resources about their products online, look for trading partners and trading opportunities, and expand the scope of trade and the market share of their products.
At present, many companies have released product information to the world through the Internet. In the first half of 1997, global online advertising sales were US$21.7 billion, an increase of 256% over the same period in 1996.
Moreover, the information released can also be made using multimedia technology, vivid and lifelike, with text, sound, and image descriptions, which can comprehensively display all aspects of the product's performance and the internal structure of the service, thus helping consumers to more fully understand the information. A thorough understanding of products and services can achieve excellent publicity effects.
At the same time, after setting up its own website online, the seller can infinitely expand the time and space of sales promotion, because its promotion space will extend with the extension of the network system, and the time is freely controlled by the buyer. Buyers can visit the site at any time to find items that interest them.
It is worth pointing out that since buyers and sellers, who are the main subjects of international trade, can obtain more information more conveniently from the Internet, the Internet has become the largest middleman, and buyers and sellers can have direct contact, thereby reducing The status of import and export companies, agents and middlemen has been enhanced. On the one hand, this situation forces trade middlemen, agents and professional import and export companies to re-understand their roles and status, increase the types of services and improve the quality of services. On the other hand, it also stimulates innovation in transaction intermediaries in the field of international trade.
At present, there is an Internet company that specializes in providing international trade information collection, analysis, processing, consultation and exchange. Compared with traditional international trade buyers and sellers, this kind of virtual company can manipulate information and unite more international trade buyers and sellers. To a certain extent, it can also make buyers and sellers in international trade have a certain influence on it. information dependence.
Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the implementation of information supply and demand in a network environment
In general, in international e-commerce systems, the exchange of trade information is usually completed through online communication. . This method of information communication is unmatched by traditional methods in terms of efficiency improvement and time saving.
In e-commerce systems, the pre-transaction preparation process using computers as the main tool, that is, the information query process, is generally called the pre-transaction support system. This part is the most successfully used in international trade.
2. Trade consultation and contract signing
After both buyers and sellers of commodities understand the supply and demand information of the relevant commodities, the specific commodity transaction negotiation process begins. Transaction negotiation and contract signing mainly refer to the negotiation between the buyer and the seller on all transaction details, and the signing of the results of the negotiation between the two parties in the form of a written document, that is, a contract.
Traditional transaction negotiations generally go through several processes: inquiry, offer, counter-offer and acceptance. The content of transaction negotiations includes: the subject matter of the contract (name, quality, quantity and packaging of goods sold, etc.); the price of the contract; the seller’s obligations (delivery of goods, delivery of documents, etc.); the buyer’s obligations (payment of goods, receipt of goods, etc.) ); Dispute prevention and dispute resolution (commodity inspection liability, claim period, exemption conditions, arbitration agreement, etc.). After both parties reach an agreement, the contract is signed.
In fact, one of the main tasks of the trade consultation process is to convey trade information. In the past, methods such as mail, telephone or fax were usually used, but they each had their own shortcomings. Mailing is time-consuming and laborious; although the telephone can solve the negotiation problem more conveniently, it cannot solve the delivery of documents; the security and confidentiality of fax are insufficient. Therefore, under traditional technical conditions, the only way to deliver important trade documents is by mail. However, conducting trade negotiations by mailing documents is time-consuming and labor-intensive, especially international postage is very expensive. If there are many rounds of trade negotiations, it will be a burden on both parties in terms of time and economy.
Now, transaction negotiations based on international e-commerce are completely different from traditional negotiation methods. The entire consultation process can be completed with the support of networks and systems. The original document exchange process in trade consultations has evolved into the transmission process of records, documents and messages in the network in international e-commerce. Various e-commerce systems and dedicated data exchange protocols automatically ensure the accuracy, security and reliability of the network information transmission process.
Various trade documents and documents, such as: price list, quotation sheet, inquiry, offer, counter offer, Order (order indent), purchase order response (ordesp), purchase order change request (ordchg), shipping instructions (itf min), shipping notice (besadn), payment notice (remadv), issuance of tenders (invoice), etc. in international electronic Business transactions have become standard message formats, thereby increasing the speed of the entire transaction process, reducing loopholes and errors, and standardizing the entire commodity trade process.
In e-commerce systems, this process of transaction negotiation and contract signing is called the support transaction process system. This system goes one step further than supporting pre-deal systems by supporting both parties in the entire process from deal negotiation to contract signing. This system is much more complex than the previous stage. First, the system must technically confirm that the user's order request is not fraudulent; second, it must confirm that the supplier is indeed a legitimate supplier and ensure that others will not steal the user's bank card information to engage in other illegal activities. Therefore, this type of system usually requires all parties to the transaction to register effectively and legally with the network certification center in advance. Only registered users can engage in online transactions, and the system will provide dynamic online authentication and confidentiality measures during the transaction process. Therefore, this type of business usually occurs between trading partners with frequent buying and selling transactions and relatively fixed buying and selling relationships.
Figure 2 Schematic diagram of the trade consultation process
Furthermore, contracts signed in this system no longer require written documents to determine the results of consultations, but can be in the form of electronic contracts. Because the network protocols and application systems themselves have ensured the certainty, security and reliability of all trade negotiation log files.
3. Performance of the Contract
Once the contract is signed, it becomes a basic legal document binding both the buyer and the seller. Buyers and sellers should perform their obligations according to the contract.
The work of fulfilling the contract mainly includes the exporter applying for export licenses and quotas. If the transaction is to collect foreign exchange by letter of credit, the importer must be urged to issue a letter of credit. After receiving the letter of credit, it must be reviewed according to the sales contract. If there are no problems, the goods will be prepared and the consignment procedures will be completed, including inspection, chartering, customs declaration, loading, insurance, etc. After the goods are shipped, go through the procedures for document preparation, presentation of documents, and settlement of foreign exchange. The importer needs to fulfill the obligations of payment and receipt of goods.
E-commerce makes the tedious fulfillment process much simpler. Currently, in the field of my country's foreign trade, enterprises can access the government's dedicated website to apply for export tax rebates, online applications for import and export licenses, verify export foreign exchange and import foreign exchange payments, and apply for the origin of imported and exported goods. Processing of certificates and other procedures. It greatly improves the transaction efficiency of foreign trade enterprises and reduces transaction costs.
In the process of fulfilling the contract, buyers and sellers need to involve many institutions, such as: banking financial institutions, customs systems, credit card companies, commodity inspection systems, insurance companies, tax systems, transportation systems, etc. The most important link is the payment link. Traditional cross-border payment procedures are complicated and slow, with long time cycles and many unpredictable losses and risks. The use of modern network communication technology and advanced computer processing systems can ensure high efficiency in capital operations.
After the buyer and seller complete various transaction procedures through agreement, the goods are delivered to the transportation company for shipment, and the goods can be tracked through the electronic trade system; the bank pays the funds in accordance with the contract and corresponding documents, and issues corresponding bank documents certificate, and finally complete the entire transaction process.
4. Foreign trade document transfer procedures
The most unique thing in the international e-commerce application process is the actual document processing process after the supply and demand are basically consistent and the trade negotiations are initially completed.
Compared with the traditional foreign trade document operation process, the flow of foreign trade documents after the introduction of e-commerce has been reduced by at least 15 steps (see Table 1).
To sum up, the application of e-commerce in international trade practice can be summarized as the following advantages:
1. It greatly reduces the transaction links, greatly saves time and money, and has It helps foreign trade companies respond quickly to customers in today's fierce international market, thereby enhancing international competitiveness.
2. Since manual intervention is reduced to the greatest extent, possible errors caused by manual input are reduced to a minimum.
But nothing can be perfect. Currently, there are still some obstacles in e-commerce that affect its promotion and use. For example, because the Internet is a virtual space, people cannot correctly identify who the other party is. You may even doubt whether the other party really exists. As for goodwill, it is even more difficult to be accurate; for another example, you cannot guarantee that your information will not be intercepted and stolen when it is transmitted in the open system of the Internet, or that it will not be intercepted and stolen after the recipient receives it. Denial and so on. However, the practices and rules applicable to e-commerce have attracted the attention of authoritative institutions around the world, and relevant regulations are being introduced one after another. For example, in June 1996, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law adopted the Model Law on Electronic Commerce, which provides countries with a A set of easily accepted e-commerce rules; in 1997, the International Chamber of Commerce adopted the "General Principles of International Digital Assurance Commerce", which standardized the connotation of relevant terms; the WTO has proposed a work plan for e-commerce in the trade field, etc. This provides a guarantee for solving some technical problems. In short, the replacement of traditional international trade practices by international e-commerce cannot be changed. As Ruggiero, the former Director-General of the WTO, said: "It is inevitable and no one can stop it." As a developing country, only by rapidly developing international e-commerce can my country take the initiative in the trade competition of the 21st century. . . Welcome to ask questions to 158 Education Online.